Biodiversity & Environment
Action Plan for Biomass Management
- 09 Jul 2018
- 6 min read
Introduction
The farm burning, specific to the paddy-wheat cultivation cycle in the rural regions of Northern and North-Westerns states of India, has been identified as a major source of air pollution. It not only affects the air-quality in rural areas but also causes an episodic rise in air-pollution during October and November in Delhi-NCR.
CII-NITI Aayog ‘Cleaner Air Better Life’ initiative aims to bring together all relevant stakeholders for designing a set of solutions to the identified sources of air pollution. For this initiative, the findings of IIT-K study are being considered as basis of designing the action plans.
Anchored by the Ministry of Environment Forests and Climate Change, the task force on Biomass Management has identified certain avenues for the alternate usage of paddy straw/crop residue
The task force has suggested a two-pronged approach to tackle the issue:
From the farmers’ end
- In-situ utilisation or soil incorporation of crop-residue (that remains standing in the field after combine harvesting) needs to be prioritised and popularised among the farmers. This is important, not only to ensure that crops are not burnt but for long-term conservation of
micro nutrients in the soil. - In-situ utilisation of straw which remains rooted in the
soil, requires a change in farming practices. For this purpose,specialised machinery is required at different stages of farming. - Apart from directly ploughing and mixing (mulching) the residues back into the soil, on-farm management techniques (composting, pyrolysis or biochar) are effective in bringing the nutrients back to the soil
- There is increasing evidence that soil incorporation has long-term benefits for improving the quality of soil, increasing water-use efficiency and reducing the intensity of
fertilisers being used.
From the government’s end
Table 1: Actions to combat air pollution by subtle burning
Immediate action |
Medium and long-term actions | ||||
Financial support to farmers | Impact fund for Air-pollution | Upscale technologies | Reword and Monitor at local level | Regulatory support | Awareness tools |
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Table 2: Solutions and technologies for
S. No | Utilisation Methods | Applications | Barriers | Enablers |
1 | Biochar |
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2 | Briquetting |
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3 | Pelletisation |
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4 |
BioCNG |
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5 | Liquid fuels |
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6 | Bio-ethanol |
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