From stubble to bricks: Miranda House helps farmers earn income

NEW DELHI: Pradeep Singh, a farmer in Sonipat, through an initiative by students of Miranda House learnt how stubble from his wheat, paddy and sugarcane crops was causing pollution and haze in Delhi. As part of

Project Dhreya

, which involves education of farmers, the Delhi University students created a system where stubble and agriculture waste could be converted into

biomass briquettes

.


Singh was one of the farmers who were asked to collect their stubble for making briquette. “Farmers from five villages are currently converting stubble into briquette since last winter,” he said.

Rishika, a student and vice-president of the college’s Enactus group, said, “Delhi has been an infamous gas chamber witnessing air quality dropping to dangerous levels in the past few years owing to stubble burning. With this project, we want to reduce environmental hazard by efficiently using crop residue to make biomass briquettes, a compressed block of combustible material used for fuel.”

The process involves drying, grinding, sieving, mixing with a binder, compacting and cooling. “We want to empower the farming community by providing financial stability and reducing detrimental environmental impact caused by stubble burning,” said Rishika.

Singh, who owns approximately 30 acres farmland where he cultivates wheat, paddy and sugarcane, said, “In our Mehrana village, we hardly burn stubble now and are using the machine to convert farm waste into briquette.”

According to the students, over 180 tonnes of stubble waste was collected after each harvest since last year. This was converted into briquettes and sold in the market, generating Rs 5,834 each month as additional revenue for the farmers.

However, while the stubble samples were collected and transported by

Indian Agricultural Research Institute

, where they are examined and converted to briquettes, the machine was found “expensive”. This would be a major impediment in upscaling the project, the students said. Singh added that they needed transportation, better briquette-making machines and a market to sell the product.