Assessing the Carbon Footprints, the Cost- Returns and Environmental Sustainability of Agriculture; A comprehensive study of Punjab and Bihar

Abstract

The study has examined the cost-returns and compounded annual growth rate for rice cultivation in Punjab and Bihar from 1996-97 to 2018-19. Environmental sustainability is discussed trough various greenhouse gas components from flooded fields, residue burning, fertilizer used, and machine use (per hectare) in the rice cultivation. For Bihar, the growth rate of CostA1, actual cost, is 8.35 %, while the growth of VoP is 7.69 %. For Punjab, the growth rate of CostA1 is 6.48 %, while the change of VoP is 8.55 %. The rice cultivation area in Punjab and Bihar is the same; about 3.1 Millian Hectares of irrigated area in Punjab is 99.7%, while in Bihar is only 65.4% in 2018-19. Punjab is known for its high use of fertilizer; in 2018-19, Punjab- used 179.09 kg/Ha fertilizers, emitting 427.57 Gg per hectare per year methane, 3.24 Kg per hectare N2O, and 4194.9 Kg per hectare CO2 from residue burning while Bihar uses 131.71 kg/Ha fertilizer, emits 380.57 Gg per Hectare per year methane, 2.64 Kg per hectare N2O. There is no or little evidence of residue burning. The environmental cost of rice production in Punjab is higher than in Bihar. Climate-smart crops and reallocation of cropland may be the best option for sustainability.