NEW DELHI: The Delhi government will provide farmers with an environment-friendly method to decompose farm residue free of cost before October 15.
“We have decided that the mixture developed by the Pusa Research Institute will be prepared by the Delhi government itself under the guidance of the institute. The government will visit the farmers with the solution which is to be sprayed on their farmlands. We will set up the entire spraying system through tractors on fields, free of cost,” said Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Wednesday.
The technique developed by Pusa Agriculture institute is an alternative to burning stubble and requires using a capsule to make the solution.
According to the government authorities, as there is not much time left to distribute the eco-friendly capsules to everyone and make all the necessary arrangements, the fermented liquid solution will be made by the government and will be maded available for farmers who would want to use it on their farmlands.
As per experts, farmers start making arrangements for the next sowing season around October 15. According to the government, there are around 800 hectares of land in Delhi where non-basmati rice is grown, following which the stubble is collected and burned.
The Delhi government will start the process of preparing this liquid solution by October 5 and hopes to complete the entire process of making the solution available by October 12-13.
Earlier, Chief Minister Kejriwal had written to Union Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar to ask neighbouring states of Delhi to sensitise their farmers about the eco-friendly method developed by the institute and the benefits that it can provide.
“October is here and we know that by this time entire North India is troubled with the smoke that covers the belt due to crop stubble burning every year. I hope that the other states will also try and implement this system as much as possible,” added Kejriwal.