nurture.farm, a digital platform for sustainable agriculture, Crop Residue Management (CRM) Program, the largest ever project to eliminate stubble burning in India has resulted in reduced greenhouse gas emissions. 

The CRM program impact report has evidenced benefits across reduced greenhouse gas emissions, improvements in soil health and farmer livelihoods, and reduced usage of fertilizers.

CRM Program Impact report indicates 92% overall stubble burn avoidance across the enrolled farms, with close to 4,20,000 acres of land saved from being burnt, resulting in the prevention of 10,38,965 tons of carbon dioxide emissions from being released.

Through the CRM program, nurture.farm supported over 25,000 farmers across 23 districts in Punjab and Haryana with access to farm mechanization, and a bio-enzyme to decompose their crop stubble. Over the course of the project, over 1000 field personnel from nurture.farm led a fleet of more than 700 boom sprayers serviced over 420,000 acres of paddy fields with the bio-enzyme, developed by the Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI), free of cost to the farmers.

When sprayed onto the stubble, the PUSA bio-decomposer enzyme decomposes the stubble in 20-25 days, increasing organic carbon in the soil and maintaining overall soil health.

Satellite monitoring of the paddy fields – in partnership with the European Space Agency – was used to identify farms that had been burnt at least once between 2018-2020, and was also used to help analyze farmers adherence to the program. For ensuring the program’s efficiency and scale, nurture.farm developed three mobile applications to improve farmer connectivity and educate farmers on regenerative practices, conduct area mapping, arrange spraying schedules, and monitor machine and equipment use.

Dhruv Sawhney, Business Head and COO, nurture.farm said, “This program has proved to be a major breakthrough, and we are pleased with the results of the CRM program, through which we have established a viable, scalable, alternative method to stubble burning, and a brighter future for sustainable agriculture in India."

"Technology has been the backbone in the scaling up of this project - through identifying target fields, connecting and educating farmers, facilitating access to mechanization and equipment, and creating a shared ag-economy – it has enabled us to successfully conduct a program 150x larger than any previously undertaken. This is just the beginning for nurture.farm - and we look forward to embarking on more impactful projects to foster the growth of resilient farmers and make sustainable outcomes a reality for all,” added Sawhney.

Dr. Ashok Kumar Singh, Director, IARI said, “We are so pleased to have worked with nurture.farm to change this endeavor and help farmers harness and deploy a revolutionary bioenzyme that supports their farms and their livelihoods – all whilst tackling one of the widespread agricultural practices of crop residue burning. The completion and impact of this project marks a significant step forward for Indian farming communities and societies, global food systems, and our overall planet health.”