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Friday / November 22. 2024
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The company’s Biochar Initiative continues to benefit local farmers while improving air and soil quality

PepsiCo India has extended its Biochar Initiative, a pilot crop residue management program, to the Fatehgarh Sahib and Ludhiana districts of Punjab as a potential solution to address the pressing issue of stubble burning in the northern states of India. This initiative will continue to work with more farmers in Punjab to better manage harvest residue by using furnaces known as retort kilns to produce biochar fertiliser through a process called pyrolysis.

According to Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI), stubble burning in Punjab released 6.8 million tonnes of greenhouse gases and particulate matter between September 15 and November 2, 2022. Biochar production and usage have the potential to reduce GHG emissions significantly compared to other forms of disposal such as heaping while improving soil health and water retention.

PepsiCo India’s Biochar Initiative aligns with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), particularly SDG 13 (Climate Action) and SDG 2 (Zero Hunger). Through these efforts, the company also aims to improve the per-hectare crop yields for small and marginal farmers while contributing to global efforts to mitigate climate change.

Speaking about the initiative, Anukool Joshi, Director – Agro at PepsiCo India said, “Enhancing soil function and health using biochar can increase agricultural output and reduce expenses related to nutrient and environmental effects. In comparison to other crop residue management options, our preliminary data has shown increased net benefit to the farmers through the adoption of biochar.”

Today, PepsiCo in India works directly and indirectly with over 27,000 farmers across 14 states, sourcing 100 per cent of the potatoes for its Lay’s brand in India from Indian farmers.

Naginder Singh, an owner of the farm where PepsiCo India commissioned the first retort kiln, highlights the benefits he sees from adopting biochar: “PepsiCo India helped us to set up furnaces to produce biochar. After the biochar is prepared, we spread it into the fields that are ready for cultivation. I would recommend biochar to all farmers. Using it helps our soil and saves our environment from further pollution while reducing the use of chemical fertilisers”.

The company’s Biochar Initiative continues to benefit

The technology originally developed in Canada including a true single pass- no tillage row unit is designed to eliminate stubble burning and tillage in India

In a significant development which seeks to eliminate these problems for the farmers and revolutionise the agriculture sector of India forever, Canadian agricultural technology pioneer Clean Seed Agricultural Technologies is going to bring to India its advanced planting and seeding technology having far-reaching impact on the agricultural practices, gains and replenishment.

Developed over the past 10 years and patented by Clean Seed world-wide as well as in India, this globally proven seeding and planting technology is aimed at addressing key production and sustainability issues rampant in Indian agriculture. The innovative, modular, row by row technology originally developed in Canada including a true single pass- no tillage row unit is designed to eliminate stubble burning and tillage, advanced metering technologies for precision application of seed and fertilizer, as well as planter singulation options.

However, to optimise their technology and machines to suit the Indian weather conditions, and agricultural, soil and crops patterns, Clean Seed has teamed up with Chandigarh University, Gharuan. In the crucial position as the Technology Testing Partner, Chandigarh University has been field testing the Clean Seed products, constantly passing feedback on how to make these machines more India-friendly.

Chandigarh University has now hosted an exclusive technology demonstration on its Gharuan campus, where the company’s single seeding, planting and fertilizer application machine- ‘SMART Seeder MINI-MAX’ was demonstrated to a well-attended gathering, including delegates from the Agriculture Ministry of Punjab and Haryana Government, Farmer Producer Organizations and local progressive farmers. Clean Seed’s Canadian team including Company President Colin Rush, and Vice President of Operations & Product Development Jeet Jheetey was present on the occasion and gave a detailed technical and agronomic presentation at the event showcasing the technology followed by in-field demonstrations of planting into standing crop stubble. The demonstrations continued planting multiple crops including corn, soybeans, and cotton while placing fertilizer in a single pass in the Agricultural Practices Fields of Chandigarh University’s University Institute of Agricultural Sciences.

The technology originally developed in Canada including