The thick SMOG blanket has become the most worrisome issue for most of North India and Crop residue burning lies at its core. Every year in northern states like Punjab & Haryana, approximately 35 million tonnes of paddy straw and stubble is openly burnt. Low wind speeds and low temperatures further aggravate the problem. According to National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), a top American atmospheric organization, India will continue to experience dangerous level of smog-filled pollution over the next several months and the region is just entering its smog season.
Crop Residue Burning (CRB) has been identified as a major health hazard as apart from causing exposure to extremely high levels of Particulate Matter concentration to people in the immediate vicinity, it is also a major regional source of pollution. In addition, it causes loss of vital components such as nitrogen, phosphorus, sulphur and potassium from the top soil layer, making the land less fertile and unviable for agriculture in the long run.
New Holland Agriculture, a global manufacturer and seller of agricultural equipment offers an effective solution to the crop residue burning. It provides a complete range of equipments viz. Bailer, Rake, Mulcher & Tractor for Straw Management. New Holland balers are playing a significant role in collection of biomass for biomass based power generation by paddy straw & other crop-residues and cogeneration from cane trash in sugar mills. Each New Holland baler can help produce electricity for 950 rural homes for one year in one paddy season.
A gyro rake compliments the baler by collecting the crop residue in windrows for easy pick-up by a baler, thereby increasing its efficiency by 25 to 60%. With a low power requirement of 35 to 40 HP through PTO, the New Holland RKG 129 gyro rake is suitable even for very small farms.
In collaboration with the Department of Agriculture, Govt. of Punjab, New Holland Agriculture has undertaken the Straw Management project in Kallar Majri village of Patiala to prevent Crop Residue burning. Since the day of launch, 1000 tonnes of crop stubble from 400 acres of farm land in Kallar Majri village has been baled using the equipment provided by New Holland Agriculture. It is a matter of pride that Kallar Majri in this harvest season is a totally smokeless zone i.e not an inch of stubble has been burnt in Kallar Majri.
New Holland Agriculture has also conducted a campaign in Punjab and Haryana recently to spread awareness among farmers about ill-effects of burning crop residue, and educate them about brand’s innovative solutions that can help in straw (crop-residue) management. New Holland Agriculture aims to deploy its innovative technologies to ensure sustainable farming and cleaner & greener environment.
