ICMR's Pusa shows promising results at Delhi, Punjab trials

New Delhi, Nov 26: The ICAR stubble burning solution has shown promising results at the trials carried out in Delhi and Punjab. The Delhi government had adopted the technology for the project from Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI), in order to prevent burning of paddy stubble in about 700 hectares of rice fields. The project had cost the govt Rs 20 lakh.

 

YV Singh, Principal Scientist of Microbiology at Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI), an affiliate institution of the ICAR which developed the solution has shared that the “The ICAR’s invention, named Pusa, decomposes crop residue, including paddy straw, and turns it into manure in about 25 days, thus eliminating the need to burn paddy stubble. It could be a breakthrough if adopted with an integrated approach.”

 

This proprietary microbial solution developed by the (ICAR) could be a breakthrough in the hunt for a solution for stubble burning, a major cause of winter pollution in North India. Farmers across Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh typically harvest paddy in October and then set their fields on fire to clear rice stalks for the next crop.

 

It is the fastest and cheapest way to clear the fields of unwanted stalks, which eventually leads to mass pollution along the belt of Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh, mainly affescting the NCR of Delhi which is located at the heart of the polluted belt.