India’s basmati-rich agriculture fields in Jammu and Kashmir’s R.S. Pura border belt have adopted a new technology wherein modified rippers are used to get rid of the menace of stubble burning. The Department of Agriculture (DoA) has introduced modified rippers to cut stubble and convert it into fodder.
A ripper is an agricultural tool that is used to loosen or aerate the soil. “The use of rippers will not only end farm fire and pollution but also create fodder for cattle,” Manager, Seed Multiplication Farm Chakrohi, Rakesh Khanjuria, told Khajuria said that the use of new technology not only prevents pollution, farm fires, and the destruction of minerals in soil and insects, but also creates fodder for the cattle of the region and employment for the local youth.
Officials said that the introduction of rippers to create fodder instead of pollution should be introduced not only in the entire J&K but also in Punjab and Haryana.“Delhi, Haryana, and Punjab, where such incidents are increasingly taking place, should adopt this (ripper technology of stable chopping). It should be used throughout J&K. This will control pollution and give a boost to mushroom and dairy enterprises,” he said.
Farmers and harvesters are working against time to reap 13 varieties of wheat sown on 850 acres of fertile agriculture land on two sides of border fencing on the International Border in Jammu and Kashmir’s Chakrohi that was off limits until a year ago due to Pakistani shelling. Seventy percent of the harvesting has been done. The crops were sown after India and Pakistan agreed on a ceasefire in 2021.