Case study finds sustainable uses of agricultural waste in India

Entrance of the IIT Ropar institute where some of the local Punjab university TIGR2ESS partners are based

 

 

In a study published in the Journal of Cleaner Production, doctoral researcher Lisa Arianna Rossi and Dr Jagjit Singh Srai from the Centre for International Manufacturing explore innovative and sustainable methods to valorise agricultural waste in India. Their research focuses on transforming the harmful practice of burning rice straw stubble into profitable and environmentally friendly solutions, creating circular by-product supply networks in Punjab. This case study highlights the potential for public-private partnerships to revolutionise waste management in the agricultural sector, promising significant benefits for both farmers and the environment.

 

Each November, Indian farmers set fire to the straw stubble that remains after the rice harvest to clear the fields for a new season. Across the country’s rice-growing regions in northern India, 23 million tons of rice straw are burnt like this as a quick and effective way to deal with the unavoidable waste of rice production. Sadly, the burning is done on a scale so large that it significantly compromises the air quality locally and, therefore, constitutes a health risk.

 

In their new case study, 'Configuring circular by-product supply networks through public-private partnerships – A case study of rice straw stubble agri-waste in Punjab', Lisa and Jagjit focus on emerging efforts to change this agricultural waste practice as part of the TIGR2ESS: Transforming India’s Green Revolution by Research and Empowerment for Sustainable food Supplies initiative. TIGR2ESS was a large Global Challenges Research Fund (GCRF)-funded project which aimed to ease the pressures on natural resources in India as the nation’s population continues to grow. Focus areas include overuse of water, fertiliser and pesticides, crop losses, and in this case, air pollution.

 

"Because of the serious consequences of crop burning, the Indian government has tried to ban it several times," says Lisa. "Sadly the practice continues, so we need to think differently. Farmers need viable and profitable alternatives to burning their agricultural waste."

 

Finding the better alternatives

Farmers and local populations know - and feel - the detrimental health and environmental effects of rice straw burning, but they also know that the known alternative ways to deal with the waste are impractical and expensive. For example, it is possible to incorporate the straw into the soil where it will decompose and provide nutrition for new crops. This method is labour intensive and therefore less attractive than burning, particularly because the agricultural sector suffers from labour shortages. Another possibility is to collect the straw, but that similarly requires much more labour and time, as well as machinery costs, than burning.

 

The challenge is to find solutions that farmers have the means and motivation to choose, and that can be used at scale. When Lisa and Jag dove into the existing literature, they found that methods for converting rice straw to useful products existed already. They divided the possible uses into six categories: food/feed, building, high-end, fertiliser, fuel, and power, and assessed each use according to possible valorisation at scale.

 

A call for public-private partnerships

Among possible scenarios for product-process valorisation opportunities, Lisa and Jagjit conclude that the most promising uses are in the fuel and building categories. Using various processing methods, the straw can be converted into building bricks, MDF boards, ash, fuel oil and distillates, biogas, bioethanol, syn liquids (methanol), pellets, and fuel gas methane, but the authors suggest that strong public-private partnerships are required to enable sustainable circular supply networks.

 

"In our research, institutional players, such as those in government and finance, engaging with a broad set of industry actors including farmer cooperatives, equipment providers, and product manufacturers are crucial in creating new supply chain partnerships," says Jagjit.

 

"Policy frameworks that can stimulate such cooperation can also encourage investment, inform the setting of fiscal incentives, pricing-in wider socio-economic benefits. In the case of rice straw the benefits are enhanced revenue for farmers, regional economic development through value-addition, and the reduction of air pollution and green-house gas emissions," he concludes.

 

 

Read the case study here: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0959652624025423

Date published

24 July 2024

 
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