BURNING CROP RESIDUE: Farmers’ Choice Among Various Practices

Crop residue management practices adopted by farmers have a significant effect on pollution created by the agricultural sector. Broadly, farmers are following the practice of removal, burning and incorporation for the management of crop residue. To find out the determinants of practices adopted by farmers for the management of rice residue; the multinomial model is estimated by using primary data from 400 farmers of Punjab, Pakistan’s rice-wheat cropping system. The adoption probability of burning, partial removal and partial burning and incorporation of rice residue management practices increase with farm size, the actual total cost associated with the preparation of field for wheat crop after rice, farming experience and turnaround time between rice harvesting and wheat sowing relative to removal practice. The use of rice residue as fuel and feed decreases the adoption probability of burning practice compared to that of removal practice. To overcome the problems associated with the burning of rice residue, the government should formulate policies for the development/introduction/popularization of technologies about power generation from the residue, enrichment of residue for livestock feeding and incorporation of residue into the soil. Further, regulations about crop residue burning should be implemented and agricultural institutes should also focus on the development of dwarf rice varieties and crop diversification.