Maryam’s awareness drive reduces crop residue burning in Punjab

LAHORE: Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz’s awareness campaign to promote the use of modern agricultural machinery and discourage the burning of paddy crop residues has evolved into a full-fledged movement across the province.

Farmers in various districts of Punjab have pledged their full support for the provincial government’s drive against the burning of crop residues. For the first time in Punjab’s history, the adoption of modern machinery has led to a significant improvement in the hazardous smog situation.

Farmers have warmly welcomed Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz’s public welfare initiative aimed at curbing crop residue burning. Teams of the Punjab government are actively conducting awareness campaigns in rice- and wheat-growing areas, persuading farmers to use advanced machinery—such as super seeders and modern harvesters—instead of setting fields on fire.

Currently, 91 balers and 814 Kubota harvesters are operational under this initiative. Through these balers, crop residues have been collected from 31,630 acres, while Kubota harvesters have gathered residues from 314,000 acres so far.

A large number of farmers, for the first time, have chosen to collect crop residues as livestock fodder instead of burning them. During interactions with Punjab government awareness teams, farmers said, “We did not burn crop residues this time because it causes smog and various health hazards. Instead of setting fields on fire, we used machinery to collect straw for animal feed.”

Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz thanked the farmers of Punjab for their full cooperation with the government’s environment-friendly and agriculture-supportive campaign.