A press meet on“Effective solutions to combat SMOG” on 29th Nov 2017 was organized by New Holland at The Metropolitan Hotel , New Delhi. Media was addressed by Mr. Gabriele Lucano - Country Head & Managing Director (CNH Industrial India) ,Mr. Bimal Kumar - Director Sales & Marketing (Agriculture Brands), Mr. Manmohan Kalia - Joint Director Agriculture Engineering, Department Of Agriculture, Punjab. Discussion Points were brief on SMOG issue , Current Scenario , Growing trends of Stubble burning; Beyond Punjab and Haryana; beyond Paddy and wheat , Effective solutions to address the SMOG issue , alternative ideas of crop residual management ,Collaboration with agriculture department, Patiala , case study of effective straw management in Kallar Majri, Patiala, Punjab.
New Holland Agriculture has presented technical solutions to combat the practice of burning crop-residue and stubble. A new project in a Punjab village is showing how straw management techniques can increase farmers’ output and reduce air pollution at the same time as protecting nutrients for future crop growth. New Holland Agriculture’s machinery such as Tractors, Combine Harvesters with Chopper, Rakes, Balers, Happy Seeders, Shredo Mulchers and MB Ploughs can be effectively used in the fields, enabling farmers to manage the crop residue instead of burning it. The project was initiated in Kallar Majri village, Patiala District, by the Department of Agriculture (DOA) to encourage the use of these technologies. New Holland Agriculture,under its CSR program,recently joined the project, providing farmers with machinery for straw management, together with all necessary training and technical support to carry out this initiative.
Gabriele Lucano, Country Head and Managing Director at CNH Industrial India, said: “As global Clean Energy Leader since 2006, New Holland Agriculture feels a responsibility for providing solutions to fight environmental pollution. This is especially true of the burning of crop residue in fields, which is becoming a major concern for human health beyond the Northern states of India.”Manmohan Kalia, Joint Director, DOA, Punjab, said: “Working on the stubble management issue, more and more farmers are being encouraged to adopt mechanised post-harvesting treatment of the land and we are pleased that New Holland is now contributing with technical solutions. Punjab Government has taken Kallar Majri as a model village for this project but it’s important to note that farmers from other locations can also improve productivity and reduce air-pollution by adopting these same practices.” Bimal Kumar, Sales and Marketing Director for New Holland Agriculture, commented: “More than 90% of paddy straw in India is burned in fields, taking air-pollution to levels that can damage human health. In Punjab and Haryana alone approximately 35 million tonnes of paddy straw and stubble are burned every year. But since starting this project, 1,000 tonnes of crop stubble from 400 acres of farm land in Kallar Majri village has been baled and the practice of burning crop-residue and stubble has been fully eliminated.The solution they are proposing can also bring in additional revenue to the farmer as he can sell the straw instead of burning it.”
The most beneficial method for farmers is to collect the straw for selling to biomass-based power plants by using Rotary Slasher followed by Rake and Baler. Alternatively, a combination of Straw Slasher, Rake, Baler, Rotavator and Seed Drill can be used to collect the residue on the field and prepare it for the next crop.
