Microbial Spray Spells Hope to Solve Air Pollution in India

Apr 23, 2022 by Monika Thakur in Environment

PUSA Decomposer microbial spray is a long-term solution to stubble burning and the resulting air pollution menace in the Northern parts of India

Developed by the Microbiology Division of the Indian Agriculture Research Institute (IARI), Delhi, PUSA Decomposer microbial spray brings a ray of hope to end India’s air pollution. It will also enrich the soil while saving a huge amount of labor and material costs. Moreover, this simple bacterial spray also claims to eliminates local farmers’ practice of post-harvest waste burning. After all, agricultural waste burning is a major cause of India’s biggest environmental problem – the smog.

India’s air pollution problem

New Delhi is the most polluted city in the world, and for some obvious reasons. It lies amid a large part of the farmlands in the north-Indian states of Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, and Rajasthan. Being nestled amid the large regions of farmlands, Delhi has to bear the impact of stubble-burning in the agricultural lands.

Microbial Spray Brings a Ray of Hope to Solve Air Pollution in India

Image: Good News Network

With farmers burning agricultural fields from October to December after the harvesting, the air in and around the National Capital areas is rapidly turning toxic. This pollution even spreads up to the Indo-Gangetic Plains, as well as various other northern parts of India.

Due to increasing air pollution, there has been a huge rise in reports of lung ailments and asthma. Hence, the Supreme Court of India and the NGT (National Green Tribunal) have accused state governments of putting people’s right to life at risk. As a result, the state governments started working on expensive farm machines to handle the crop residue without causing air pollution. With the large machines, the crop residue is easy to turn into biofuel, biogas, and cardboard. However, these machines are not affordable to all.

PUSA Decomposer microbial spray

To offer an affordable solution to stop stubble burning and air pollution in India, Nurture farm, an ag-services company, has come up with a revolutionary invention. This new solution is the PUSA Decomposer which consists of over 7 species of bacteria and fungi found in Indian soils. Available in the form of a microbial spray, PUSA Decompose can easily break down the leftover stubble within three weeks. And, after only 8 days, the whole agricultural waste will disappear like magic.

What’s best about this new microbial spray is that it can fully decompose the stubble into the soil. Therefore, significant labor won’t be needed to collect the crop residue in one place for burning. Besides that, it will also help in the elimination of the world-threatening problem of air pollution. So far, the company has licensed the product to use in India.

Image: Mint

Farmers registered with Nurture can now avail this mechanized spray totally free of cost. They can apply this spray to their fields to get rid of the stubble. This product has shown great results in the reduction of stubble and eventually the menacing problem of air pollution. Considering this, the company’s COO, Dhruv Sawhney, says that regular use of this spray could stop the existing problems in the next three years.