New Delhi: A new study has found that in north India, as crop burning increases, so do acute respiratory infections – the risk of these infections actually becomes three-fold.
In fact, when rice farmers in the region start burning their fields, the concentration of particulate matter (PM 2.5) in Delhi spikes 20 times beyond the World Health Organisation’s safe threshold.
The study also says that if India took measures to eliminate the burning of agriculture crop residue, the country would be able to avert 14.9 million disability-adjusted life years lost per year – valued at US$152.9 billion over five years.
Globally, respiratory infections are among the top causes of disability and death. Crop burning is directly linked to respiratory infections and thus measuring the health and economic costs of the agricultural practice is urgent.
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Titled ‘Risk of acute respiratory infection from crop burning in India: estimating disease burden and economic welfare from satellite and national health survey data for 250 000 persons,’ the study has been published in the International Journal of Epidemiology.
The report relied on health data from India’s fourth District Level House Survey (DLHS-4) and took data on the occurrence of fires by using moderate-resolution imaging spectroradiometer satellite data over five months.
It looked at three states that most prominently practice or are affected by crop burning: Haryana, Punjab, Delhi. For comparison, it also looked at data from southern states, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu, where crop burning and firecracker burning is not as popular. Apart from crop burning, the study has also paid attention to some other risk factors for respiratory infections such as fire cracker burning, the use of motor vehicles, exposure to open drains and cooking with bio mass.
In these southern states, the study found that acute respiratory infections are less frequent and the number of fires is also lower than in northern states.
For example, over a 15-day period, the authors found that 5.4% of individuals surveyed in Haryana reported symptoms of acute respiratory infection but in southern states, only 0.1% of people reported the same.
High-intensity fire exposure is “virtually absent” in south India. But in Haryana alone, 17.5% of people live in a district where at least 100 fires were observed per day.
The authors say that “Solutions to eliminate crop burning exist but require further investments.” They also analyse that investing in the elimination of the practice and giving farmers other options to dispose of crop residue is “likely to improve population-level respiratory health and yield major economic returns.”
Investments made in reducing crop burning will be “highly favourable in terms of their return on investment when compared with other public-health interventions or actions.”