Don’t blame farmers for pollution. They are victims too

The environmental crisis demands a holistic approach to safeguard health and livelihoods

India is the third-largest greenhouse gas emitter even though its per capita emission is low. This pollution led to about 1.67 million deaths and an estimated loss of $28 billion in 2019.

The average life expectancy has dropped by 10 years along with implications like allergies, lower fertility, cardiac malfunctions and high blood pressure. Pesticide residues have contaminated the mother’s womb and breast milk. Now, women make up 40 per cent of lung cancer patients. A senior thoracic surgeon from AIIMS said that irrespective of age and habits, dark black spotted lungs have replaced the healthy pink ones he used to see in his early career.

Droughts and famines were common before the introduction of high-yielding varieties, pesticides, fertilisers, and advanced techniques. Farming became profitable with the invention of shorter-duration varieties, but excessive usage of chemical fertilisers and pesticides for higher yields polluted the groundwater and affected soil health. 

After the 1970s, soil erosion and water scarcity restricted rice cultivation to irrigated land. Sowing rice with the advent of monsoon became mandatory, which pushed the harvest to the end of October. A farmer has only 15 days to prepare for the next season. Given a choice between a cheap matchstick and a Rs 3-lakh ‘happy seeder’ (a tractor-mounted machine that sows seeds and removes the straw), most would choose the former, as renting the machine would mean a waiting period of 14 days. The stubble burning is a response to a shortened growing season, not a choice.

In southern India, kharif crops such as sugarcane, millets, vegetables, bananas, green manures etc., are grown in rotation with rice, and less than 1% stubble is burnt. Still, cities like Hyderabad, Coimbatore, Bengaluru, Amaravati and Visakhapatnam have air pollution seven to eight times higher than the WHO specifications. Silicon City Bengaluru has turned into an asthma city for children. Four to eight times more pollutants are emitted on Indian roads because of congested traffic. Adulterated fuel also contributes to this.

During the winters in north India, the geography of Delhi and NCR makes it difficult for the stubble fumes to escape. The pollutants and suspended particles in the air combine with smoke from stubble, creating a smog that lasts for weeks. 

Industry causes more than 50% of the pollution, transportation 20%, crop burns 17%, and domestic cooking the rest. Measures can be taken for this 17% that comes in a small window of two months. Pressure cannot be piled on farmers only. Why is the farmer alone being held guilty for choking the capital and the NCR?

By 2050, the population will reach 10 billion and the food demand will rise by 45%, which will make it imperative to grow more and which will produce more stubble with the same set of issues in hand. The number of mouths to feed is increasing exponentially and the number of hands to feed is diminishing rapidly. With such a trend, how shall we double the food grain production? Since 2011-12, the total number of farmers has reduced by 2.4% annually. It’s not the farmer dying, but the loss of faith in farming as an occupation.

The Supreme Court calls for year-round monitoring of stubble burning to solve this problem, but only 2% of pollution comes from stubble burning. The highest (54%) comes from methane produced by enteric fermentation from cattle; 20% comes from chemical fertilisers and pesticides; and 7% from manure decomposition. Checking stubble burning alone would not solve the problem.

Implementing other means of crop diversification such as organic farming, regenerative agriculture practices, promoting water use efficiency, use of micro irrigation sprinklers, and introducing millets to replace the age-old rice-wheat crop cycle will take time, but they still offer hope. The stubble can be used as fuel in state-run enterprises and can replace coal in power plants. Every village household needs electricity and cheap fuel for cooking and other needs. 

It’s always a hard choice between breathing healthy or eating healthy. Farmers can feed us, but for breathing, we need to regulate our industries and control vehicular pollution. The farmers themselves are victims of polluted air, water and soil. Blaming them as perpetrators will endanger both our breathing and eating.

(The writer is a freelance horticulturist and supports women self-help groups in organic farming)