Fields on fire: Alternatives to crop residue burning in India

Shyamsundar, Priya; Springer, Nathaniel P.; Tallis, Heather; Polasky, Stephen; Jat, M.L.; Sidhu, H.S.; Krishnapriya, P.P.; Skiba, N. S.; Ginn, William; Ahuja, Vikram; Cummins, Jay; Datta, I.; Dholakia, Hem H.; Dixon, J.; Gérard, Bruno; Gupta, Ridhima; Hellmann, Jessica J.; Jadhav, Arun; Jat, H.S.; Keil, Alwin; Ladha, J. K.; López-Ridaura, Santiago; Nandrajog, SP; Paul, Shashi; Ritter, Axel; Sharma, P. C.; Singh, Rajbir; Singh, Dhanwinder; Somanathan, Rohini

doi:10.1126/science.aaw4085

Cited by 141 publications

(102 citation statements)

References 14 publications

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“…Both satellites and ground-based monitors have detected enhanced aerosol loading downwind of smoke plumes from agricultural fires across north India in recent years (Badarinath et al 2009, Kaskaoutis et al 2014, Jethva et al 2018, Sarkar et al 2018. Recent bans and intervention efforts, such as Happy Seeder technology, aim to reduce post-monsoon fires (Sidhu et al 2015, Tallis et al 2017, Shyamsundar et al 2019.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Crop residue burning practices across north India inferred from household survey data: bridging gaps in satellite observations

Liu¹,

Mickley²,

Singh³

et al. 2020

Preprint

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In north India, agricultural burning adversely affects local and regional air quality during the post-monsoon season (October to November), when the prevailing meteorology is favorable for smog and haze formation. Quantifying the contribution of smoke to air pollution in this region, however, is challenging. While the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS), aboard NASA’s Terra and Aqua satellites, provides a nearly 20-year record of global fire activity, the sensor cannot adequately capture small, short-lasting agricultural fires due to its moderate spatial resolution (500 m to 1 km) and limited overpasses (twice daily for each satellite), as well as the hazy conditions that typically obscure the north India land surface at this time of year. Moreover, current global fire emissions inventories based on MODIS observations can differ by up to an order of magnitude in this region. Here we incorporate household survey data to bridge gaps in MODIS observations and improve estimates of fire emissions over the states of Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, and Bihar during the 2003-2018 post-monsoon burning seasons. We develop a novel method that adjusts MODIS Fire Radiative Power (FRP) for: (1) small fires detected by the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) at 375-m spatial resolution, (2) cloud/haze gaps in satellite observations, (3) partial-field burning practices, and (4) the diurnal cycle of fire activity. Adjusting FRP for the fire diurnal cycle yields the largest boost to emissions due to the short lifetime of the fires (~1/2 hour) and the brief windows of satellite detection. Using adjusted FRP, we estimate on average 10.8 ± 2.7 Tg dry matter (DM) burned each year, yielding emissions of 68 ± 17 Gg organic carbon (OC), 5.8 ± 1.5 Gg black carbon (BC), 821 ± 206 Gg CO, and 15.4 ± 3.9 Tg CO2. On average, our OC+BC emissions are ~250% higher than estimates from five widely used global fire emissions inventories. Our estimate for Punjab, which contributes two-thirds of emissions in the region, is consistent with our bottom-up validation, which uses burn rates from the household survey and government crop production statistics in 2016 and 2017. We spatially disaggregate the state-level emissions to construct a gridded inventory at daily, 0.25° x 0.25° resolution over north India from 2003-2018. The inventory, SAGE-IGP (Survey Constraints on FRP-based Agricultural Fire Emissions in the Indo-Gangetic Plain), improves modeling assessments of air quality impacts from agricultural burning, thus supporting effective policy development.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Crop residue burning practices across north India inferred from household survey data: bridging gaps in satellite observations

Liu¹,

Mickley²,

Singh³

et al. 2020

Preprint

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“…In regards to air pollution from crop fires, it is noted that while the intentional use of fires to transform land has declined globally, regulatory strategies have continued to be less effective in southern and eastern Asia. However, findings from a recent analysis of alternative crop residue burning approaches, conducted in India by Shyamsundar, et al [53], strongly suggests that profitable and scalable alternatives exist and that India has an opportunity to be a model for other countries in the region [53,54].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Air Pollution in a Nationally Representative Sample: Findings from the National Adult Tobacco Survey of Lao PDR

Hurd-Kundeti

Petersen

Somsamouth³

et al. 2019

IJERPH

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In Southeast Asia, household air pollution (HAP) from solid fuel use is the leading cause of disability-adjusted life years (DALYs), a risk which is compounded by exposure to other sources of indoor and outdoor air pollution including secondhand tobacco smoke (SHS). The purpose of this study was to measure the individual and combined prevalence of exposure to household and community sources of air pollution in a national sample of adults in Lao PDR. We analyzed data from the 2012 National Adult Tobacco Survey (NATSL) of Lao PDR—a multi-stage stratified cluster sample of 9706 subjects from 2822 households located in all 17 provinces. Our findings indicate a high prevalence of exposure to household air pollution from cooking fires (78%) and SHS exposure in the home (74.5%). More than a third (32.8%) reported exposure to both inside the home. Exposure to outdoor sources of smoke from cooking, trash, and crop fires was substantial (30.1% to 56.0%). The aggregation of exposures from multiple sources of household air pollution raises the need for initiatives that establish programmatic linkages in the health, environmental, and agricultural sectors to provide a comprehensive strategy to reduce risk factors for respiratory disease in Lao PDR and the region.

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“…However, the application of CSA practices in isolation may or may not play its potential role in adapting to climate risks in the intensive agri-food systems of the IGP. Moreover, recycling of crop residues with viable in situ management practices in largely mechanized harvesting of intensive rice-wheat rotation is a must for soil's resilience and system sustainability (Lohan et al, 2018;Shyamsundar et al, 2019). Therefore, layering of these CSA practices in optimal combinations may help in adapting to climate risks and building resilience to climate variability and ensure food security (Aryal et al, 2016;Kakraliya et al, 2018;Jat et al, 2019b).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Topsoil Bacterial Community Changes and Nutrient Dynamics Under Cereal Based Climate-Smart Agri-Food Systems

et al. 2020

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Soil microorganisms play a critical role in soil biogeochemical processes, nutrient cycling, and resilience of agri-food systems and are immensely influenced by agronomic management practices. Understanding soil bacterial community and nutrient dynamics under contrasting management practices is of utmost importance for building climatesmart agri-food systems. Soil samples were collected at 0-15 cm soil depth from six management scenarios in long-term conservation agriculture (CA) and climatesmart agriculture (CSA) practices. These scenarios (Sc) involved; ScI-conventional tillage based rice-wheat rotation, ScII-partial CA based rice-wheat-mungbean, ScIII-partial CSA based rice-wheat-mungbean, ScIV is partial CSA based maize-wheat-mungbean, ScV and ScVI are CSA based scenarios, were similar to ScIII and ScIV respectively, layered with precision water & nutrient management. The sequencing of soil DNA results revealed that across the six scenarios, a total of forty bacterial phyla were observed, with Proteobacteria as dominant in all scenarios, followed by Acidobacteria and Actinobacteria. The relative abundance of Proteobacteria was 29% higher in ricebased CSA scenarios (ScIII and ScV) and 16% higher in maize-based CSA scenarios (ScIV and ScVI) compared to conventional-till practice (ScI). The relative abundance of Acidobacteria and Actinobacteria was respectively 29% and 91% higher in CT than CSA based rice and 27% and 110% higher than maize-based scenarios. Some taxa are present relatively in very low abundance or exclusively in some scenarios, but these might play important roles there. Three phyla are exclusively present in ScI and ScII i.e., Spirochaetes, Thermi, and Euryarchaeota. Shannon diversity index was 11% higher in CT compared to CSA scenarios. Maize based CSA scenarios recorded higher diversity indices than rice-based CSA scenarios. Similar to changes in soil bacterial community, the nutrient dynamics among the different scenarios also varied significantly. After nine years of continuous cropping, the soil organic carbon was improved by 111% and 31% in CSA and CA scenarios over the CT scenario. Similarly, the available

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Fields on fire: Alternatives to crop residue burning in India

Abstract: Farmer profit can be increased and air quality improved

Cited by 141 publications

References 14 publications

Crop residue burning practices across north India inferred from household survey data: bridging gaps in satellite observations

Crop residue burning practices across north India inferred from household survey data: bridging gaps in satellite observations

Air Pollution in a Nationally Representative Sample: Findings from the National Adult Tobacco Survey of Lao PDR

Topsoil Bacterial Community Changes and Nutrient Dynamics Under Cereal Based Climate-Smart Agri-Food Systems

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