Journal of Community Mobilization and Sustainable Development

The use of mechanical combine harvesters for major crops like rice and wheat is popular among farmers in the northern India. The mechanized harvesting of paddy leaves a large quantity of stubble on field which takes a lot of time to decompose in the soil and thus, farmers burn a significant portion of the stubble on-farm. Stubble burning not only causes environmental pollution but also harms the soil and human health. Over the years, the stubble burning has become a major issue, threatening the air quality with numerous other ill effects. Despite herculean efforts at various levels by the governments, it seems that the problem of stubble burning is difficult to be solved by technical or legal interventions alone. Various aspects of stubble burning have been researched upon but the gap lies in identifying the determinants of stubble burning behaviour. The present study utilized the Theory of Planned Behaviour for understanding the determinants of stubble burning behaviour of the farmers. This will prove helpful in designing appropriate interventions in bringing behaviour change of farmers.