Crop residue burning

This is really becoming a big issue and I hope that for this year 2026 things get better but hope is not going to create any solutions, it's our own actions that need to be checked.

After harvesting, farmers burn excess crop residue and try to quickly get their land ready for bext year’s Crop it's a simple strategy that works for them. The problem is that crop residue smoke used to clear fields is also what's responsible forilling that Same crop later, it doesn't happen immediatel but over time the air quality degrades, we see the rainfall patterns changing and soil continues to deteriorate. So what looks like speed and effectiveness on the path of a farmer will end up being the reason for less results and less harvests.

According to WHO, globally, there are approximately 500,000 people who die prematurely from air pollution related to agriculture. This Number includes the farmers themselves, which I kind of see as suicide bcause they created the problem, and they are also the first casualty of the problem, just not until many years later.

Burning crop residue may appears to be efficient. The farmers have a quick fix to get rid of stubble left behind after combining, but they ignore the fact that the crop residue particulates remain in the atmosphere for longer than the farmers had intended them to, and what's happening is the residue is drifting into cities and settling on other farmlands, and they are impacting monsoon forecasting in ways scientists are still mapping out.

A few states have already banned burning crop residue, but any attempt of enforcement will create a challenge. A tractor driver getting paid daily wages is definitely not thinking about atmospheric chemistry or the statistics of premature death. He is only thinking about next year’s planting window and how much he'll make. He's already added a future budget and how he'll move forward in his person life so you can be sure he'll try to escape the enforcement and break the law.

The cycle just continues because stopping crop residue burning requires expensive equipments, like Balers and Mulchers. And these are equipments that most smallholder farmers cannot afford to buy so they light a match and create an even more toxic air quality next year and continue to do so each year until who updates their data.

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