eople in Lahore and neighbouring areas regularly brace for what has become known as the smog season. Many factors contribute to this typical winter pollution. Rice straw burning is a particularly significant problem in the areas surrounding Lahore.

There is little time between a rice harvest and the wheat sowing. So when it is time to clear rice straw from their fields to plant wheat, the farmers light a match. Estimates show that about 8.5 million tonnes of rice residue is produced yearly. At least half of it is burnt in the fields. Many farmers consider rice straw burning the most effective and cost-efficient way to clear land for wheat plantation.

These toxic blazes produce black carbon, severely threatening human and environmental health. Black carbon is a component of PM2.5, a microscopic pollutant that penetrates deep into the lungs and bloodstream and increases the risk of heart and lung disease, stroke, Alzheimer‘s, Parkinson’s disease and some cancers.

According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), black carbon kills around 7 million people yearly. From an environmental perspective, black carbon is a short-lived climate pollutant that exists only for a few days or weeks, but its impact on global warming is up to 1,500 times stronger than carbon dioxide.

In the sub-continent’s context, black carbon can alter precipitation patterns, particularly the monsoon, disrupt meteorological events necessary to support agriculture in the Indo-Gangetic plains and accelerate the melting of Himalayan ice and glaciers. Reducing crop burning could prevent an increase in floods and droughts caused by black carbon, which would change the lives of millions of people who depend on rivers fed by those mountains.

Efforts to control straw burning

In 2019, the government of the Punjab introduced a ban on burning rice straw for one month starting in October every year. A farmer caught burning straw can be fined up to Rs 50,000 per acre. However, enforcement and compliance remain weak, especially in the absence of feasible alternatives. Weak enforcement means little disincentive for farmers to carry on with the practice. Farmers do not find the fine prohibitive, so rice straw fires continue.

Learning little from the past, where bans on rice straw burning and threats of fines have done little to dissuade farmers, the newly elected Punjab government has raised the fine to Rs 200,000 per acre. To highlight government’s concern, the minister for environment has warned that the patwari of the area would be held responsible.

I believe that an over-emphasis on the ban and penalties is not going to produce the desired results. If straw burning could be stopped by punishing farmers, we should be able to stop it now. Punishment will not work without access to alternatives. Punishing farmers in the current political situation is also not politically practical.

Given that we are in an election year, the Punjab government is unlikely to show a will to make an unpopular decision by pressing farmers to stop straw burning. So, a strict enforcement of the ban is hardly possible. Governments frequently back away from such decisions for minor political gains. Many Indian states, for instance, have decriminalised straw burning following farmers’ protests.

The mismatch between policy and agricultural practices has made straw burning a perennial issue and, crucially, the lack of affordable alternatives. Apart from policy failure, straw burning is an issue of information failure. Many farmers believe that straw burning enhances soil fertility.

The United Nations Environment Programme argues that far from promoting growth, straw burning reduces water retention and soil fertility by 25 to 30 percent and thus requires farmers to invest in expensive fertiliser and more irrigation to compensate. Pam Pearson, the director of the International Cryosphere Climate Initiative, says, “The no-burn alternatives, such as incorporating straw back into fields or even planting right through the straw, almost always save the farmer money.”

In the rice-wheat system, a harvester with a Supper Straw Management system can harvest rice and spread the straw while the Happy Seeder drills holes in the ground to seed the wheat. The technology can cut and distribute straw from behind the harvester evenly across the field for an even straw load.

Hina Shaikh from International Growth Centre (IGC) states that burning-related air pollution costs Pakistan a significant amount. This cost can be attributed to premature death, reduced work productivity and educational attainment and damage to pregnant mothers and children. Hence, straw burning is also an issue of market failure around externality where the actual social cost of crop burning is not recognised.

Better ways to control straw burning

Where bans have failed to stop farmers from blazing their fields every year, two crucial developments (agricultural machines and a decomposer enzyme) in the recent past offer a promising solution to the challenge of straw burning. In the rice-wheat system, a harvester with a Supper Straw Management system (SMS) can harvest rice and spread the straw while the Happy Seeder drills holes in the ground to seed the wheat.

This technology can cut and distribute straw from behind the harvester evenly across the field for an even straw load. This also helps with ease of straw management and better crop growth. The uniform distribution of paddy residues helps to retain moisture in the field and promotes better germination of the following wheat crop. The use of Super SMS attachment on rice combine harvesters was made mandatory by the Indian Punjab Pollution Control Board in February 2018.

The bio-decomposer enzyme, developed by the Indian Agricultural Research Institute, is a solution that can be sprayed after the harvest. The enzyme spray turns the stalk into fertiliser in less than a month. The fertiliser not only maintains soil health by increasing organic carbon in the soil but also helps the air pollution.

In 2021, the Indian government started licensing its use to businesses. Experts believe that these innovations hold the potential to do away with straw-burning trends. In addition to air pollution benefits, conservation agriculture using the Happy Seeder and/ or enzyme sprays has substantial economic returns.

Conservation agriculture, however, is new to Pakistani farmers. It will require targetted awareness and incentives to persuade farmers to change habitual practices and convince local manufacturers and service providers to supply Happy Seeders at scale. It is a lofty undertaking, but the impact will be considerable and far-reaching.

The government of the Punjab has started demonstrating the use of no-burn technologies, providing a set of machines to 500 rice farmers around Lahore in 2021. Such demonstration and training may need to be expanded and their efficacy better understood. Likewise, the government should task agriculture research institutions in the country to develop their stalk decomposer solutions and engage agricultural medicine companies to support such research endeavours. Alternatively, if possible, the companies may provide imported enzymes to farmers.

Enabling farmers to adopt conservation agriculture

In a recent IGC blog, Hina Shaikh offered an attractive policy option to incentivise farmers to stop crop burning. This option can be realised by providing conditional support to farmers willing to adopt conservation agriculture. It is suggested that the government should set up a fund to provide subsidies for the purchase of straw shredders and Happy Seeders to help farmers move away from crop burning. Pakistan has a well-established institutional mechanism in the form of its flagship social protection programme, the Benazir Income Support Programme, that transfers the payment to millions of the poor in the country.

The conditional cash payment for the adoption of conservation agriculture can be executed using the existing institutional mechanism of Ehsaas Kisan Programme with the administrative support of Agriculture Department. The ban on crop burning, in combination with support for sustainable farming, may well lead to longer-term benefits.

The writer is an associate professor in the Department of Economics at COMSATS University Islamabad, Lahore Campus