Drivers of crop residue burning and its mitigation

Our previous research has found the following factors associated with increases in crop residue burning: a sudden increase in agricultural area and yield; the introduction of the ‘Preservation of Subsoil Water Act’; the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS); and political cycles.

We also collected ground data for areas representative of these drivers and identified incentivizing reaper machine owners and operators (RMOs) to help get residue from field to market, and surveyed RMOs as well.

This project will build on our previous research and focus on the following:

(a) role of norms in influencing household crop residue burning behaviour;
(b) role and limitations of awareness schemes in incentivizing behavioural change, and
(c) modelling price mechanisms to incentivize behavioural change.