Archive · 22 Sep 2026
Punjab Expands Stubble Machinery Fleet Amid Record Paddy Area
Punjab is preparing to harvest a record amount of rice.
Rice fields leave behind dry stalks called stubble.
Farmers need to clear this stubble before planting wheat.
The state expects about 1.25 lakh special machines to help manage it.
However, around 67,000 older machines are no longer considered usable.
Punjab is adding about 22,000 new machines and expects more from other programmes.
Some stubble will be put into the soil, while some will be turned into bales for energy plants.
Officials will send about 8,000 workers to monitor fields and farm fires.
The state wants to keep reducing stubble burning, which fell sharply in the previous season.
Punjab expects about 1.25 lakh crop-residue management machines to operate during this paddy harvest season.
Nearly 67,000 machines distributed since 2018 have completed their roughly five-year operational life.
Around 22,000 new machines are being added at a cost of about Rs 600 crore, with Centre-state funding split 60:40.
Rice cultivation has reached a record 32.86 lakh hectares, creating more stubble-management demand.
The state plans to deploy about 8,000 personnel and aims to reduce farm fires to negligible levels.
- Who
- Punjab’s Agriculture Department, farmers, machinery operators, and field-level monitoring personnel.
- What
- Punjab is preparing its crop-residue management system for a record paddy harvest while replacing ageing machinery.
- When
- During this year’s paddy harvesting season; official paddy procurement is scheduled to begin on October 1.
- Where
- Punjab.
- Why
- To manage a record rice-growing area, support timely wheat sowing, and reduce stubble-burning incidents.
- Expected operational machinery
- About 1.25 lakh crop residue management machines
- Ageing machinery
- Nearly 67,000 machines have completed roughly five years of operation and are considered non-functional or scrap
- New machines
- Around 22,000 machines are being added this year
- New machinery cost
- About Rs 600 crore
- Funding pattern
- 60 per cent Centre and 40 per cent state funding
- Rice area
- Record 32.86 lakh hectares, more than 92 per cent of Punjab’s kharif crop area
- Farm fires
- 5,114 incidents in 2025, down 53 per cent from 10,909 in 2024