Centre Approves Rs. 1151.80 Crore Fund For Crop Residue Management

In the budget 2018-19, the government announced to launch a special scheme to support state governments of Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh and NCT of Delhi to tackle air pollution. Also, the scheme would help in subsidizing the machinery required for crop residue management.

 In this regard, the government has approved a Rs 1,151 crore scheme to promote in-situ (in the farm itself) management of crop residue in Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Delhi.

Objective of the scheme

The major objective of the scheme is to offer a cost-effective and eco-friendly solution to farmers to deal with the problem of stubble burning. The burning of stubble results in raising air pollution levels in the capital and neighbouring states.

Funding and Usage

The cabinet committee chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi has sanctioned a fund of Rs. 1151.80 crores. Rs 591 crore will be spent in next fiscal while the remaining Rs 560 crore will be meant for assisting stakeholders in 2019-20. The fund will be used to promote agricultural mechanisation for this purpose for the next two years (2018-20).

Key Components

• The scheme aims at establishing "Farm Machinery Banks for the custom hiring of in-situ crop residue management machinery. The costs of these equipments will be decided by the ministry in consultation with manufacturers so that it can be made available to users at a reasonable price 
• Individual farmers, cooperative societies, farmer producer organisations (FPOs), Self Help Groups (SHGs), private entrepreneurs and registered groups of women farmers will be assisted by the government 
• The agriculture ministry is assigned the task to identify manufacturers and equipment for in-site management of crop. 
• Department of agriculture of each state will be the nodal implementing agency to identify various beneficiaries and location-specific agricultural equipment, depending on the farming system. 
• The government will launch mass awareness campaigns through short and long films, documents, radio and TV programmes, demonstration camps at various levels and capacity building programme among others.