A farmer in Punjab has claimed he has been sowing wheat directly into the hard soil of his fields without burning crop residue since 2001 and getting up to 2.5 quintals of higher crop yield per acre, a feat that the authorities said could encourage other farmers to do the same.
Surjeet Singh of Sadhugarh village in Fatehegarh Sahib district showed on Tuesday his farming techniques called 'super straw management system' in the presence of the district deputy commissioner Shiv Dular Singh Dhillon.
Appreciating Mr Singh's efforts, the deputy commissioner said the administration would take steps to encourage farmers in the state to follow his ways of farming.
Air pollution in Delhi and the National Capital Region in winter has been blamed on stubble-burning in Haryana and Punjab.
Under the straw management system, wheat can be sowed directly in hard soil with the help of a seeder machine and without burning the stubble and tilling the land afresh, said Mr Singh.
It saves the cost of diesel for tilling the land, he said, adding farmers don't even need the pre-sowing irrigation and end up having higher crop yield from 2 to 2.5 quintal.
Farmers get higher crop yield because the residue paddy stubble serves as nutrient for the new crop on decomposition, he said, adding that one does not need pre-sowing tilling and irrigation either as the seeds can be directly drilled into hard soil.
This farming also tackles the problem of falling water table in the area as post-sowing, the crop can be watered by rain guns just for 40 minutes per acre, he said.
Mr Singh said he has never burnt paddy straw since 2001 and is constantly practising resource conservation technology to manage crop residue produced on his 45 acres farm.