Live Updates
TNPSC Comprehensive Course Launching on 24-06-2026 All-India Free Mock Test for UPSC 2026 TNPSC Comprehensive Course Launching on 24-06-2026 All-India Free Mock Test for UPSC 2026
UPSC · English

BALER MACHINE - AGRICULTURE (MAINS)

Published 11 Nov 2023. Access the PDF directly or read the stored explanation below.

UPSC English 11 Nov 2023

BALER MACHINE - AGRICULTURE (MAINS)

 

Q. Baler Machines play a pivotal role in stubble compression and stubble management. Discuss its significance in the present day issues of stubble burning and balancing farmer's income. (10 marks, 150 words)

 

NOTES:

News: How baler machines help manage stubble

 

What's in the news?

●       With the problem of farm fires being taken up by the Supreme Court, a machine that facilitates ex situ (off site) stubble management has been in demand in Punjab.

 

Baler Machine:

About:

●       Balers play a pivotal role in stubble compression, acting as hydraulic presses to compact crop residues into dense, manageable packages. These compressed stubbles are securely bound using twine, wire, or strapping.

●       Baler’ machines have been around for a decade, and currently around 2,000 of them operate in Punjab.

●       Of these 1,268 are highly subsidised (50-80%) under the Centre’s Crop Residue Management (CRM) scheme.

●       Balers compress agricultural residue into manageable and transportable bales.

●       These bales are transported to factories or dumping sites for ex-situ management.

 

Benefits:

  1. Offer ex-situ management: It eliminates the problems of in-situ management of stubble using happy seeder such as leaving the fields vulnerable to insect attacks and expensive machines.
  2. Income to Farmers: The bales can easily be transported to factories and farmers can generate income out of that.
  3. Easily manageable: Easy transportation of bales and easy management of crop residues for ethanol making and pelletisation.
  4. Reduce the Air pollution: Effective management of crop residues will reduce the Delhi smog incidents.
  5. Multifaceted benefits: Management of crop reduction by baler machines will fetch revenue to farmers, create a value chain for paddy straw for further processing (ethanol or biofuel making) and finally, reduce the Air pollution.

 

Crop residue management scheme in-situ

Revised Crop residue management guidelines for Ex-situ management

 

  1. To support the efforts of the Governments of Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and NCT of Delhi to prevent air pollution caused due to stubble burning and to subsidize machinery required for management of crop residue.
  2. It is  a central sector scheme on crop residue management that has been implemented since 2018-19.
  3. Under this scheme, financial assistance @ 50% is provided to the farmers for purchase of crop residue management machinery and @ 80% is provided to Coop. Societies, FPOs and Panchayats for establishment of Custom Hiring Centres (CHC).
  4. Financial assistance to the States and ICAR is also provided for undertaking information, education and communication activities for mass awareness of farmers on crop residue management.
  1. It is a techno-commercial pilot project for Paddy Straw Supply Chain will be established under the bilateral agreement between the Beneficiary/Aggregator and Industries utilizing the paddy straw.
  2. The beneficiary or aggregator can be Farmers, rural entrepreneurs, Cooperative Societies of Farmers, Farmers Producer Organizations (FPOs) and Panchayats.
  3. The govt. shall provide financial assistance on the capital cost of machinery and equipment.
  4. Project proposal-based financial assistance will be extended for machines and equipment such as higher HP tractors, cutters, tedder, medium to large balers, rakers, loaders, grabbers and tele-handlers.
  5. State Governments shall approve these projects through the project sanctioning committee.
  6. The Centre and state governments will jointly provide financial support of 65 percent of the project cost, while the industry as primary promoter of the project will contribute 25 per cent.
  7. The remaining 10% will be contributed by the beneficiary or aggregator.
  8. The land for storage of the collected paddy straw will be arranged and prepared by the beneficiary as may be guided by the end use industry.

 

 

Back to All Titbits
WhatsApp Book Free Demo