Mitigating agricultural residue burning: challenges and solutions across land classes in Punjab, India

Abstract

India has some of the world’s dirtiest air, adding to global climate problems. Despite the national ban on agricultural residue burning and various incentive schemes, farmers in northern India continue open field burning, posing severe threats to health and the environment because of ambient pollution. Using data from 1021 farming households in rural Punjab in India, we examine the patterns and drivers of the adoption of no-burn agriculture, particularly for farmers who mulch instead of burning crop residue. We find a growing trend in no-burn farming practices among farmers between 2015-2017, with the highest adoption rates among large farmers compared to medium and small farmers. Our findings suggest that access to equipment and learning opportunities may increase the likelihood of farmers using India faces significant air quality challenges, contributing to local health and global climate concerns. Despite a national ban on agricultural residue burning and various incentive schemes, farmers in northern India continue to face difficulties in curbing open-field burning. Using data from 1021 farming households in rural India, we examine the patterns and drivers of the adoption of no-burn agriculture, particularly for farmers who mulch instead of burning crop residue. We find a growing trend in no-burn farming practices among farmers between 2015-2017, with the highest adoption rates among large farmers compared to medium and small farmers. Our findings suggest that access to equipment and learning opportunities may increase the likelihood of farmers using straw as mulch instead of burning it. Specifically, social learning appears to increase the likelihood of farmers embracing no-burn practices relative to learning from extension agencies. Furthermore, the form of learning depends on farm size. While large and medium farmers exhibit a variety of learning strategies, small farmers primarily self-learn. These results underscore the importance of a multiprong policy that provides sufficient access to equipment and a combination of learning platforms that enabling farmers from different land classes to adopt no-burn technologies.

Introducing Environmental Research: Food Systems—cultivating multidisciplinary solutions to transform food systems in an era of global change

“…The inaugural issue of Environmental Research: Food Systems provides an exciting peek at the diversity of topics and insights we can expect in the journal. Several papers investigate the importance and potential of more sustainable agricultural practices, including dry farming in California (Socolar et al 2024), minimizing residue burning in India (Krishnapriya et al 2024), and innovations in livestock agriculture (Gratton et al 2024). Studies from Sandström et al (2024) and Karakoc and Konar (2024) show how global trade shapes our food systems, from agronomic inputs to risks facing grain supplies.…”