Policymakers, industry leaders, farmer representatives and development practitioners came together at the National Conference on “Clean Air, Healthy Soil & Green Economy: Pathways to Farm-Fire-Free Agriculture in North India” organised in Chandigarh recently. The session was organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) initiative Cleaner Air Better Life (CABL) and the Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) in NCR and Adjoining Areas. Deliberations highlighted the action needed to achieve Farm-Fire-Free agriculture by 2030.
Since 2017, CII CABL is leading multi-stakeholder platform for positive change for cleaner air. In association with CII CABL, CII Foundation is implementing Crop Residue Management (CRM) programme through CSR funding from 19 organisations. The programme supports community level adoption of sustainable crop residue management practices alongside policy level support to Central and State Governments for wider vision of Farm-Fire-Free agriculture. The initiative engages with framers in 1,008 villages, spread across 13 hotspot districts of Punjab and Haryana region.
Delivering the Special Address, Sh. Tarun Kumar Pithode, Member Secretary, CAQM, said, “at this conference, we stand at the precipice of a new era, where we must embrace this opportunity to think of innovative solutions to rice straw management which will create a more sustainable future.” The deliberations and recommendations emerging from the conference are expected to contribute to ongoing efforts to accelerate the transition towards cleaner air, healthier soil and green economy across Punjab, Haryana and the wider Indo-Gangetic Plain (IGP) region.
Speaking at the session on ‘Pathways to Farm-Fire-Free Agriculture’, Dr. S D Attri, Member (Technical), Commission for Air Quality Management in NCR and Adjoining Areas said, “environmental challenges are global in nature. Initiatives such as Viksit Bharat will only be meaningful when air is clean and safe, ensuring a truly positive experience for our citizens.”
“A strong farm advisory system is essential to ensure improvements in soil, air and water quality,” highlighted Mr Harpreet Nibber, Chairman, CII Punjab & Managing Director, Pritika Group of Industries. “Biomass holds immense potential for electricity generation, and with all key stakeholders present, we are hopeful of arriving at effective and timely decisions,” he said. “Air pollution is not just an environmental issue but a significant economic challenge,” explained Mr Shikhar Jain, Executive Director, CII. “CABL continues to actively work towards sustainable solutions to address air pollution and its wider impacts,” he added.
The Special Plenary on ‘Way Forward: Farm-Fire-Free Agriculture’ participants emphasised the need to strengthen market linkages for biomass-based products and support community-level transition to sustainable practices by creating an enabling policy environment that delivers cleaner air, healthier soils and resilient rural livelihoods. Technical sessions examined the latest emerging evidence on farm fires, varied techniques to utilise satellite-based data, need of robust validation framework and farmer-centric approaches to monitor crop residue burning incidents.
Progressive farmers, village panchayats and farmer cooperatives from Punjab and Haryana who have demonstrated exemplary leadership in achieving Farm-Fire-Free agriculture were recognised during the inaugural session. The day-long conference saw leading experts from institutions including the National Remote Sensing Centre (ISRO), Indian Agricultural Research Institute, Punjab Agricultural University, Punjab University, along with leaders from industry and farming community deliberated on long-term actionable solutions to eliminate crop residue burning across Punjab and Haryana region with shared goals of cleaner air, healthier soil, and green economy.
