MAKOWAL(AMRITSAR): Farmers in Amritsar's Makowal have usually been setting their crop residue to fire after harvesting to prepare the fields for another crop but Promoting Regenerative And No-burn Agriculture (PRANA),a project launched for Crop Residue Management (CRM) by The Nature Conservancy (TNC), a conservation organization, may help prevent another round of noxious haze caused due to stubble burning every year in the skies of Punjab .
“We are striving to get at least 2.5 lakh farmers over the next three years to adopt a no burn cropping system in Punjab” said Matt Brown, Managing Director (MD) of Global Conservation, TNC here on Monday adding that the no burn copping system would be achieved by creating an enabling environment for farmers to deal effectively with the problem of crop residue burning.
Brown inaugurated a Straw Management Sewa Kendra at Makowal village in Amritsar district .
Farmers in Punjab predominantly practice wheat and rice mono-cropping with only a window of three to four weeks after the harvest of paddy crops to prepare the field for sowing of wheat crops. TNC claims that they will build farmers’ knowledge and capacities in CRM solutions.
"A four-year long project, PRANA is being rolled out in 12 out of 23 districts of Punjab in the first year", said Dr Annapurna Vancheswaran, MD ,TNC India.
"PRANA aims to remove the barriers which are a hindrance to the successful adoption of residue management solutions by the farmers. The unique features of the project are its scale – reaching out to 2.5 lakh farmers in 18 out of 23 districts of Punjab during the course of this project. It is a multi-stakeholder four-year project ending in June 2025", said Annapurna adding that in the first year, they would be working through High Intensity Activity Clusters (HIAC) in two districts – Patiala and Moga and through Multi Component Implementation Approach (MCIA) in 10 districts”.
He said the TNC, along with its partners aspires to eliminate crop residue burning of one million hectares of cropland and save 500 billion litres of water from enhanced soil health and agronomy in Punjab.
“The project will help farmers get equitable access to no-burn crop residue management solutions and seek additional long-term income streams for them based on environmental contributions” said he.
While lauding the efforts of the Punjab government and other stakeholders in CRM in the Punjab, Brown said PRANA was aligned with the mandate of both the Union and state governments to move towards sustainable and regenerative agriculture and is hopeful that the project can change how farming has been practiced in Punjab.
