Joshi Laxmi - Socioeconomic and Environmental Implications of Agricultural Residue Burning A Case Study of Punjab, India

Socioeconomic and Environmental Implications of Agricultural Residue Burning A Case Study of Punjab, India — read online for free the complete book (whole text) full work

Below is the text of the book, divided by pages. System saving the place of the last page read, allows you to conveniently read the book "Socioeconomic and Environmental Implications of Agricultural Residue Burning A Case Study of Punjab, India" online for free, without having to search again every time where you left off. Put a bookmark, and you can go to the page where you finished reading at any time.

Light

Font size:

↓

↑

Georgia Tahoma Arial Verdana

Reset

Interval:

↓

↑

Bookmark:

Make

1234567...51

The Author(s) 2015

Parmod Kumar , Surender Kumar and Laxmi Joshi Socioeconomic and Environmental Implications of Agricultural Residue Burning SpringerBriefs in Environmental Science 10.1007/978-81-322-2014-5_1

1. Problem of Residue Management Due to Rice Wheat Crop Rotation in Punjab

Parmod Kumar 1

(1)

ADRTC, Institute for Social and Economic Change, Bengaluru, Karnataka, India

(2)

Department of Business Economics, University of Delhi, South Campus, New Delhi, India

(3)

Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, National Council of Applied Economic Research, Parisila Bhawan, New Delhi, India

Parmod Kumar (Corresponding author)

Email:

Surender Kumar

Email:

Laxmi Joshi

Email:

Abstract

Punjab agriculture supported by input and output price structure and superior yields of rice and wheat compared to other crops has virtually become a rice-wheat monoculture. The rice-wheat cycle has led to over exploitation of ground water resources in the state. Use of combined harvester has further exacerbated the problem of crop residue management as it leaves behind a large amount of rice residue to be burnt in the open fields. This study brings the problem of agriculture waste burning in the forefront. It tries to enumerate the amount of pollution being caused by rice residue burning and its adverse impact on human health.

Keywords

Rice-wheat crop rotation Combined harvester Residue burning Residue management

1.1 Agricultural Growth in Punjab

The Indian state of Punjab is known as the countrys chief granary contributing almost one-fourth share of rice and more than one-third of wheat to the central pool. On an average, the states share in the total production of wheat and rice in all-India stands about 20 and 10 %, respectively. Table provides details of wheat and rice contribution by Punjab to the central pool over the last three decades. Further, above 95 % of food grains produced in the state go out of the state to feed food deficit areas through the public distribution system. The state agriculture is characterized as the backbone of the public distribution system and a strong base for the food security of the country.

Table 1.1

Contribution of wheat and rice to the central pool by Punjab

Period	Percent share of rice	Percent share of wheat
19801981	45.3	73.0
19901991	41.0	61.0
20002001	33.3	57.6
20052006	32.0	60.9
20062007	31.2	75.3
20072008	27.8	60.9
20082009	25.1	43.8
20092010	29.0	42.3
20102011	25.2	45.3
20112012	22.1	38.7
20122013	33.6

Source Statistical abstracts of Punjab, various years

Punjab made a commendable progress in the production of food grains in the post-green revolution period. Food grain production underwent a big jump from 3.16 million tonnes in 19601961 to 28.35 million tonnes in 20112012. The green revolution also known as the new agricultural strategy was marked with the arrival of new high yielding varieties of wheat, rice, maize and bajra (millet) and package of other inputs like chemical fertilizers, insecticides, pesticides and assured irrigation facilities. Focusing on popularizing modern inputs and practices in the productive areas where the likelihood was more for the high yielding seeds to show results was the most important feature of this new strategy. Punjab with requisite irrigation and infrastructure facilities became a major beneficiary of this national strategy and has been shown as a showpiece of Indias successful green revolution strategy. Short duration and high yielding varieties (HYV) of rice and wheat were introduced in Punjab to boost up the production of food grains. During the first decade of the green revolution, the technology was confined only to the wheat crop. A remarkable growth rate of 5 % was achieved by the states agricultural sector since the beginning of the green revolution in the mid-1960s.

The decade from the mid-1970s to mid-1980s was characterized by the extension of new seed fertilizer technology from wheat to rice crop. Due to the input and output price structure and superior yields of rice and wheat as compared to other crops, Punjab agriculture has virtually become a rice-wheat monoculture. During 19661967, total area under rice was 0.29 million hectares, which increased to 2.82 million hectares by 20112012. There was also a substantial increase in the average rice productivity, which increased from 1,186 kg/ha in 19661967 to 3,741 kg/ha by 20112012 (Fig. ). During the same period, the area under wheat crop increased from 1.61 million hectares to 3.51 million hectares and productivity from 1,544 to 4,898 kg/ha. Punjab has achieved a crop intensity of 188 % as against 138 in the country as a whole. The present level of consumption of fertilizer (NPK) is 244 kg/ha as compared to the Indian average of 144 kg/ha. Similarly, Punjab has 98 % of high yielding variety coverage, which is the highest among the Indian states. About 18 % of the total tractors in India are in Punjab. Production is supported by about 97 % irrigation coverage with 970,139 tube wells.

Fig. 1.1

Productivity of major crops in Punjab

Given tremendous achievements in the past, however serious concerns are now emerging about the future prospects of Punjabs agricultural sector. Agricultural growth slowed substantially in the 1990s. Agricultural output grew at a trend rate of 2.6 % per annum in the 1990s compared to the all India average of 3.2 % and relative to a growth rate of 5 % per annum in Punjab in the 1980s. Productivity of rice appears to be reaching to plateau. The main rice-wheat tract of central Punjab also experienced a decrease in growth with total factor productivity (TFP) growth coming down to 0.07 % per annum mainly due to negative TFP growth in rice (Singh and Hussain ).

1.2 Agricultural Residue Burning and Its Management

The growth story of Punjab agriculture was accompanied by its negative environmental concerns. One of the concerns is about the over exploitation of ground water resources of the state. Punjab now has the highest percentage of ground water exploitation in the country and also the largest percentage of over exploited and dark blocks. As per the guidelines of Ground Water Resources Estimation Committee (GEC), the present ground water development (ratio of gross ground water draft for all uses to net ground water availability) in the state is 145 % as on March 2004. As per latest data provided by Central Ground Water Board, (Government of India out of 137 blocks of the state, 103 blocks are overexploited, 5 blocks are critical, 4 blocks are semi critical and only 25 blocks are in safe category. All the blocks of various districts like Amritsar (16 blocks), Jalandhar (10 blocks), Moga (5 blocks), Kapurthala (5 blocks), Sangrur (12 blocks), Fatehgarh Sahib (5 blocks), Patiala (8 out of 9 blocks) and Ludhiana (9 out of 10 blocks) have been found to be over-exploited, leading to sharp depletion of the water table in these districts.

Next page

1234567...51

Light

Font size:

↓

↑

Georgia Tahoma Arial Verdana

Reset

Interval:

↓

↑

Bookmark:

Make

Similar books «Socioeconomic and Environmental Implications of Agricultural Residue Burning A Case Study of Punjab, India»

Look at similar books to Socioeconomic and Environmental Implications of Agricultural Residue Burning A Case Study of Punjab, India. We have selected literature similar in name and meaning in the hope of providing readers with more options to find new, interesting, not yet read works.

Munir Ahmed

Privatization and the Crisis of Agricultural Extension: The Case of Pakistan: The Case of Pakistan

Manoj Joshi

The Lost Rebellion: Kashmir in the Nineties

Laxmi Subramani

Lights Out: A True Story of a Mans Descent into Blindness

Priya Joshi

The 1970s and its Legacies in Indias Cinemas

Laxmi

Red Lipstick: The Men in My Life

Laxmi Murthy

Garrisoned Minds: Women and Armed Conflict in South Asia

Dr. Jagdish S. Joshi

UGC Regulations 2010 With Illustrations

Dhaul Laxmi Tendulkar

In the shadow of freedom: three lives in Hitlers Berlin and Gandhis India

Chum

Behind closed doors: politics of Punjab, Haryana and the emergency

Raghu Palat

The Case That Shook the Empire: One Man’s Fight for the Truth about the Jallianwala Bagh Massacre

Joshi

Lovecraft and a World in Transition: Collected Essays on H. P. Lovecraft

Laxmi Khurana

An Indian housewifes recipe book

Discussion, reviews of the book Socioeconomic and Environmental Implications of Agricultural Residue Burning A Case Study of Punjab, India and just readers' own opinions. Leave your comments, write what you think about the work, its meaning or the main characters. Specify what exactly you liked and what you didn't like, and why you think so.