Last month Walter J. Lindner, Germany’s ambassador to India, visited Dhabi Tek Village in Jind district of Haryana to meet farmers on the stubble burning issue. The ambassador travelled without his usual diplomatic retinue to understand the challenges being faced by the farmers while using various stubble management machinery. Instead, he was accompanied by a technical team of the German Agency for International Cooperation (GIZ).
He spoke to HuffPost India on why stubble burning in agrarian states remains an unsolved puzzle both for the government as well as farmers, how subsidy provided by the union government to farmers for buying harvest machinery is not adequate and why German companies, the leading producers of biofuels in the world are hesitant to enter the Indian markets so far.
Some excerpts of the Interview:-
You along with a team of the GIZ almost went incognito recently to meet a large group of farmers on the Punjab and Haryana border recently to discuss stubble burning challenges in the two agrarian states. What were your findings?
I went there as I need to know whether Germany can contribute to the Indian government to face the stubble burning challenge. I do not want to do it under protocol as I wanted to listen to the farmers. There was a large group of farmers who gathered together from Punjab and Haryana frequently to discuss stubble burning challenges and other agrarian issues. I told them neither I am a part of any government delegation nor I have visited to criticize the state or the central government. I just want to know why you are burning it.
How serious is the stubble burning issue for farmers?
The worst part of the problem is that the farmers are aware that stubble burning is bad for the environment they live in and that their names will be added to the criminal records but they are not convinced with the alternatives they have at present. All they want is the officials should visit and listen to them and they want stubble management machinery compatible with their tractors. Of course, there are other alternatives like organic farming but then stubble burning is ruining the fertile soils of the two states so much that after some years it may not produce a good yield. Those who want to switch from paddy to organic fields are not doing so as the markets to flow the organic products like fruits and vegetables from farms to retails shops are yet to be set up in India.
Then there is yet another alternative of straw decomposition to be used as mulching but then the farmers are not satisfied with this as the process requires at least five to six weeks to dry up the straw. Since the farmers have to produce three crops in a year and have only two to three weeks between wheat and rice, the process has not been adopted by many farmers in the two agrarian states.
The central government is encouraging stubble management machinery amongst farmers by providing subsidies from 50 percent to 80 percent in the individual and Common Hiring Centres (CHCs) being run by farmer groups. Then why is stubble burning still on?
Mechanized harvesting with machines leaves behind around 6 inches of the straw which is difficult to cut due to time and labour issues. The farmers only had two weeks and no machine could clear the fields at this time.
So what they need is a machine that can be used by hand and can cut down the crop to two inches. The farmers indeed applauded Happy Seeder and Super Seeder which can simultaneously cut and sow seeds in the fields but then what they lack is a powerful tractor. The government provides subsidies to buy these machines but then there is no subsidy on tractors. A good powerful tractor with more than 40 HP is required to move these machines in the field and such tractors cost around 5 lakhs which is too much for a marginal farmer.
So, the majority of the farmers rely on renting out harvest machinery in these states in the two weeks window period between paddy harvesting and wheat cultivation but very few of them could actually get these machines to clear their fields and the rest of them were left with the only option to clear their fields by stubble burning.
Germany is a leading producer of biofuels. You have one of the top biofuel producers in the world. Why are German companies hesitant in coming to India for stubble management?
This is indeed a great food for thought for us to encourage Indo-German ties in biofuel production along with effective management of stubble produced in India. I have visited the fields to talk to farmers to know as to what they are doing and secondly if we can contribute in some way.
The German companies indeed have the technology to deal with stubble management but they would be interested to invest in India if it’s a profitable business and their business model would work. Stubble burning only happens in India and people in Germany do not know that stubble burning raises pollution levels around November. So, it has to be known by the people there so that they can offer solutions to deal with problems.
We are presently checking on the ground so that even if the German companies would like to explore business opportunities in India, it should not be a hopeless market for them like the pollution levels in Delhi nowadays.
So how is Germany planning to step into the field of stubble management in India?
It will not be a viable business opportunity for the German industry to market its machinery in India as the cost will be too high which cannot compete with the cheap technology from China. So, the only solution at present is to manufacture stubble machinery in India with the help of German technology. But for that, we need to have the approval of all stakeholders including the farmers and the state and the central government. Hopefully, we will soon arrive at a solution to the stubble burning challenge in India.
An earlier headline said the German Ambassador had visited Punjab’s fields. This has been corrected.