This man’s brilliant idea of converting straw into fuel and other eco-products could end the problem of stubble burning in India

With the onset of winter season, Delhi, India’s capital city, comes into news for all the wrong reasons. There is a massive spike in the city’s pollution levels as October kicks in and the major reason behind it is the stubble burning practiced by farmers in the neighboring states of Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, and Haryana.

It is estimated that India produces more than 550 million tonnes of crop residue every year, and that the highest producers of this crop residue are the three states mentioned above. And in the absence of space to hoard this residue or alternative methods to dispose of it, the average farmer takes the cheapest route—he sets this stubble on fire.

Thankfully, there is one man on a mission to change this scenario. Sukhmeet Singh’s national award winning startup Agri2Power (A2P) Energy Solution aims to solve the country’s paddy straw burning problem. Established in March 2018, A2P Energy Solution is working with farmers by buying off this crop residue from them and converting this waste to useful products for the energy sector.

The company processes paddy straw to develop pellets or bio-fuel that could be an alternative to coal and wood. The first stage of making the pellets is wholly commercialized, and it has supplied pellets to clients in food processing, pharmaceutical and dyeing industries including Pepsi and Hindustan Unilever.

Sukhmeet and his team are currently working with more than 45 farmer families and preventing paddy straw burning on 450 acres of land. Till date, A2P Energy Solution has saved 900 tonnes of straw from burning.

Read more here: https://www.thebetterindia.com/189092/punjab-man-stubble-burning-solution-eco-friendly-fuel-india/