In the northwestern Indo-Gangetic plains, the two major cereal crops, rice and wheat, are widely cultivated and these crops produce significant amounts of agricultural residue. Farmers often burn rice crop residues (RCRs) after mechanical harvesting due to low financial value, the lack of substitute applications and the narrow interval between paddy harvest and wheat sowing. Trends in the generation and burning of crop residues in Haryana and Punjab states are highlighted. This paper examines how RCRs burning affects soil health, human health and the environment. Burning crop residues causes declining soil organic matter and nutritional deficits in the soil. Post-harvest crop residues retain significant amounts of essential nutrients, highlighting an important role in nutrient replenishment and maintaining soil quality. The detailed literature reveals cost-effective in-situ residue management solutions, including mulching and incorporation techniques for wheat sowing. These solutions highlighted the benefits that enhance nutrient recycling, soil fertility, soil moisture conservation and crop yields. Happy Seeder, Smart Seeder, Super Seeder and the Super Straw Management system are technological interventions that enable residue management during wheat sowing. Timely sowing of wheat is intended to reduce cultivation costs and conserve natural resources by saving labour, fuel, water and fertilizer. Awareness, financial incentives and capacity building are the key points for large-scale adoption and making the rice-wheat cropping system sustainable in the northwestern Indo-Gangetic plains of India.
Prem et al. (Sat,) studied this question.