Stubble Burning: Farmers blame high cost for limited use of key equipment

Haryana confident of handling the fires; to add over 1,230 new custom hiring centres soon

Farmers in large parts of Punjab and Haryana haven’t completely abandoned stubble burning, though there has been considerable decline in number of burning sites this year, as compared to 2017.

A big reason farmers in Punjab are being forced to burn the paddy stubble to clear their fields is an acute shortage of ‘Happy Seeder Machines’ because of artificially inflated costs. These machines do in-situ straw management and help reduce the prevalence of stubble burning. 

In Punjab, officials said against a requirement of 35,000 happy seeders, farmers have so far been supplied around just 4,500 such machines.

In neighbouring Haryana, state government officials