Essar Steel's boron steel grade helped its customer Lemken India to manufacturer ploughing equipment that can burry 100% trash from the fields while ploughing.
Essar Steel’s effort in developing a special grade of steel – boron steel – for its customer Lemken, is bearing fruit and how.
Lemken India has become a major manufacturer of ploughing equipment that has helped farmers to burry 100% trash from the fields while ploughing, which eventually gets converted into organic waste. This not only improves the quality of soil, but also prevents the need to burn the farm trash, thus reducing the pollution levels in Delhi and NCR region.
Trash burning around the globe is worsening air pollution, pumping more emissions into the atmosphere. In India, it has been found that burning of garbage and other materials is not only source of air pollution, but forms 29.4 per cent of air pollution with reference to PM10 (particulate matter 10).
On the directives of Supreme Court, the National Green Tribunal had imposed complete ban on burning of waste in open including garbage, leaves, plastic and crop residues. Delhi-NCR region is severely affected with air pollution on regular days, but Diwali fire crackers and trash burning (after harvesting paddy crop) by Punjab and Haryana farmers further aggravate the pollution levels.
LEMKEN – known for their soil cultivation solutions, has come out with an innovative solution to tackle this issue. They have developed a special kind of ploughing equipment using boron steel. Essar Steel contributed about 65 – 70% of total raw material used for making this plough. This farm equipment has gained popularity and has been highly appreciated by Punjab farmers, corporate farmers, contract farmers, government authorities, agricultural universities for implementing practical solution. There is substantial improvement visible in yield also.
There are other 2-3 countermeasures suggested by agronomist, agri universities, scientist like Baler application, chopping of trash by SMS of combine harvester, usage of Happy seeder, but farmers somehow does not find all these solution practicable because these solutions trigger other type of issues. Lemken’s proposed solution is doing wonders and farmers are not just happy, they are extremely delighted. This has boosted Lemken’s sales numbers by 3 folds since September, but more than that, LEMKEN brand was able to create niche image amongst fraternity of agricultural implements.
Mr Shekhar Chikhale – COO, LEMKEN India Agro Equipment Pvt. Ltd., thanked Essar Steel for their contribution and said – “We appreciate your support with which we are able to localize the imported steel and pass on the benefit to farmer where they can have better and affordable access to technologically advanced products. May be we think this might be one or other way to contribute from our side where we align ourselves with Modiji’s dream of doubling farm income by 2022 focusing on farm mechanization and better productivity. In a way your esteem organisation is also indirectly enabling us to do so”.