Crop Residue Burning: Is It a Boon or a Bane?

ABSTRACT

This review paper provides a perspective on residue generation, reasons for on-site burning of residue, its ill effects on soil properties, environment, soil biota, challenges faced by the farmers in managing a huge quantity of residue and various schemes, policies, and punishments undertaken by the government to curb the problem of on-site residue burning. Several studies show that crop residue burning in the field has a negative impact on soil organic carbon, soil fertility, soil microbes, and environment and also hinders the long-term sustainability of crop production. Crop residue is a good source of carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, and sulfur; on burning, these cause the loss of nutrients as CO, CO₂, NO, particulate matter, and smoke, which are lost into the atmosphere, thereby creating the problem of air pollution and global warming, which will also pose threat to human health.

ABSTRACT

KEYWORDS:

• Sustainability
• soil organic carbon
• particulate matter
• residue generation
• global warming
• air pollution

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).