Farmers lukewarm to bio-decomposers as stubble burning incidents rise

Industry players and farmers said there were other reasons for the slower-than-targeted adoption

Govinder Singh, who belongs to Mangwal village in Sangrur district, has sown paddy in nine acres of the 10 he has. Waiting to harvest the paddy in the next few days, Govinder said on the phone despite being aware of the benefits of using bio-decomposers, he did not use them this year.

He said as of now, the agriculture department was contacting farmers to let them use their fields for experim­ent. Sometimes the department contacts farmers days after harvesting, which is not feasible “for us”, he said.

“We have been told pests attack fields where bio-decomposers are used. Also, even