Hello @NithinKamath We, at Physis Living, are working to replace plastic and its derivatives by converting agro-waste (such as paddy straw, seaweed and millet husk) into biodegradable and reusable products. Our products (successful in creating a prototype so far) will prevent burning of agricultural waste causing soil degradation and air pollution, reduce plastic waste causing GHG emission, and reduce demand for landfill sites causing water pollution. We have applied for mentorship at RainMatter Foundation and are excited to hear from your team.
Hey Nithin, I’ll look into this.
Thank you @NithinKamath and @c.abhinav.sharma for connecting us with the team at RainMatter. It was a good conversation.
History has important lessons.
There was a time when wheat bran and oil cakes etc., were discarded as food waste. The research work of scientists and the push by AHVS made the use of these free discards into animal feed. Today, they are shipped around India and used extensively. The use of paddy straw as animal feed is sound and may be encouraged. It is a well-known fact that buffaloes have better digestibility and thus make use of tougher feed efficiently.
Ref: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/355684015_Preparation_of_paddy_straw_based_complete_feed_pellets_and_their_impact_on_the_performance_of_buffalo_calves
There are many such studies and practical case studies which are more feasible perhaps.
One question in torrefaction, is the immense amount of pollution generated in the torrefaction process itself.
Since its destructive distillation of the material, it emits immense amount of unburnt hydrocarbons and soot particles
A few days ago, we spoke to Dharaksha Ecosolutions, a portfolio company turning stubble waste into sustainable packaging. Here is what they shared when we asked about how much stubble has been consumed by them,
- Stubble waste consumed so far: 250 tons
- Acres of farm fires avoided: ~80 acres
- Air pollution avoided: 228 billion litres of CO2 particulate matter.
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I had never thought of this bit when it comes to stubble burning. I guess it just increases the complexity significantly.
While you can find ways to turn stubble wasted into sustainable packaging, will it generate income to cover the cost of taking care of the Pink bollworm?
@Pai, can you maybe request the Dharaksha team to comment on this.
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Following up on the conversation here - Finshots shared this,
But MS Swaminathan was a proponent of using Stubble as input as feed or other alternatives,
https://twitter.com/msswaminathan/status/1191261323977314305?t=zKlBrx_9bHUn1rQBauC84w&s=19
I was speaking to @Shashi about this and asked him also to share his inputs here, but here is a beautiful clip on how Shashi thinks about this issue. Beautifully articulated.
Shashi, please share your views on the Bollworm question here as well for others to read.
Nithin, Pink ballworm is more of a cotton problem, not a problem in paddy and wheat belts, where the stubble burning is pandemic.
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Got it.
Also, @Shashi, you said that another way to handle this is harvesters with mulching attachment. Put the stubble back to the soil which will increase the soil organic matter.
If this helps the soil, why is it not already being done?
Nithin
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over reliance on tech to solve the problems. separate attachment to tractor was given at a subsidised cost. Post harvest, farmers were supposed to attach this to a tractor and put the mulch/stubble back to soil. This costed about R. 600 to 1000 per acre additional to farmer, farmers did not use it
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this mulching implement, we should attach to to harvesters (like in western countries), additional ploughing expense would have been avoided, and adoption would have been better.
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to your question why stubble us helpful, why it is not put back to soil? There are no demonstration of this to trigger adoption. Also, our extension systems do not place emphasis on SOC and its impact, hence total disconnect between farmer engagement, farming and soil. It is a godel opportunity to put organic matter mach to soil, we are missing it.
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Absolutely
Pink ball worm problem is created when we don’t clear the fields and try to use in-situ management. That is try to decompose the material on the field. The article writes about the worms but farmers face a bigger challenge of rodents (primarily rats).
The problem is not there if there is ex-situ management. That is entire material is collected and transported away from field.
To help visualise, following is the sequence of events:
- Harvesting via combine machine: as there is acute shortage of labour in season that is harvest of rice and sowing of wheat happening together.
- The combine, while being a very efficient machine. Just like all machines is not 100% efficient, meaning some of the rice grains fly out with stubble waste and are spread throughout the area of the field
- This attracts rats and if the field is not cleared, provides large breeding grounds for pests and rodents.
this then disturbs the yield of next crop.
This is how much of material is left behind after the rice has been harvested by combine.
Now this is completely cleared by bailer machine, and what is left behind is a clear field which would be tilled and then there would be no problem of pests or rodents.
Farmers are very very keen to get their fields cleared by bailer machines. So much so that there is annual bidding as to whose village would the bailer people would go to.
So it is not an adoption challenge.
It is a demand challenge. As what do you do with the immense waste that has been collected.
Currently the only use cases are to be used as fuel. Which is a very very price sensitive market(Max Rs 1.8-2.5/kg) as direct competitor is coal and gas.
That is why very very limited quantity is consumed.
The need is to have alternate materials that can absorb higher cost. Cost of collection, cost of stocking, loss in weight in stocking, transportation etc.
These need to be high margin materials
We at Dharaksha have made a biotechnology process of converting this waste into alternative of thermocol (polystyrene) using roots(called mycelium) of genetically engineered mushroom. This packaging sells at Rs 200/kg.
Also we have been able to create a much harder version of the material that can replace wood in all applications, again using only mycelium and biotech without any resin/formalin/chemical.
This product once ready for commercialisation, has an even bigger market size than packaging.
We aim to reduce 30% of this problem in next 4 years
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