Pakistan Looks To New Tech To Curb Crop Burning, Cut Smog

Government hopes to tackle the problem by providing 500 rice farmers around Lahore with a set of machines that together eliminate the need to burn crop stubble

People make their way amid heavy smoggy conditions in Lahore on Tuesday. Agence France-Presse

Air pollution is a long-standing problem in Pakistan, but every October and November contaminates in the air in Punjab province shoot up as farmers burn rice stalks let behind after harvesting to clear their fields to plant wheat.

During these cooler months, the provincial capital Lahore, which is surrounded by rice growing districts, is covered with thick smog.

“It is a health emergency — the air quality monitors in Lahore routinely show hazardous levels in November,” said Farah Rashid, a climate and energy programme coordinator for green group WWF-Pakistan.

Now the Punjab government hopes to tackle the problem by providing 500 rice farmers around Lahore with a set of machines that together eliminate the need to burn crop stubble.

The machines include a shredder that breaks down rice stubble and mulches it into the ground and a seed drill — called the Happy Seeder — that follows to sow wheat through the mulch.