Why Stubble Burning Persists in North India: Structural Constraints and Alternative Feasibility
Hezal Manocha
31/08/2026
Stubble burning remains a dominant residue management practice in North India despite well-documented environmental and public health consequences. Its persistence is closely tied to the economic and operational constraints faced by farmers, including rising labour costs, limited machinery access, and narrow sowing windows. Rather than treating burning as a matter of awareness or regulation alone, the analysis investigates whether alternative residue management pathways can realistically substitute burning within existing agrarian systems.
A comparison of two contrasting case-based pathways — EcoLeaf Press as a decentralized, community-oriented utilisation model and bioenergy-based systems as centralized, capital-intensive solutions — forms the core of the evaluation. Using a feasibility-based analytical framework, these alternatives are assessed across cost structures, temporal compatibility, logistical requirements, and institutional accessibility.
The comparison reveals that decentralized solutions enhance local accessibility but face labour dependence and scalability constraints, whereas centralized bioenergy pathways offer higher absorptive capacity while imposing significant coordination and capital demands. The continued reliance on burning thus reflects a structural mismatch between intervention design and farm-level realities, limiting sustained adoption and long-term environmental impact.
By developing and applying a feasibility-testing framework, this research extends existing discussions beyond technical potential, emphasizing the importance of aligning residue management strategies with the structural constraints that shape farmer decision-making.