Performance Evaluation of Crop Residue Management Machinery through Front Line Demonstrations (FLDs) of Wheat in Haryana, India

Abstract

Crop-residue burning in the intensive rice–wheat systems of north-western India create substantial environmental and soil-management concerns. Krishi Vigyan Kendra, Sonipat conducted 770 frontline demonstrations of three crop-residue-management technologies—Happy Seeder, Zero Tillage, and Super Seeder—during the rabi seasons of 2018–19, 2020–21, 2021–22, and 2022–23. Each demonstration was accompanied by a nearby farmer-managed comparison plot. Because the machinery types were demonstrated in different years, villages, and wheat varieties, the results were analysed descriptively and were not treated as controlled comparisons among technologies. Happy Seeder demonstrations recorded a village-wise mean grain yield of 5,608.50 kg/ha compared with 5,133.00 kg/ha under corresponding farmers’ practice. The respective means were 5,342.50 and 4,967.50 kg/ha for Zero Tillage and 5,634.80 and 4,825.60 kg/ha for Super Seeder. The mean technology index was 15.02% for Happy Seeder, 19.05% for Zero Tillage, and 20.64% for Super Seeder. Within matched village-season comparisons, all three options recorded lower cultivation costs, higher net returns, and higher benefit–cost ratios than farmers’ practice. The comparatively large technology gaps recorded during the 2021–22 Super Seeder demonstrations coincided with a season of regional heat stress, although local plot-level weather data were unavailable and causal attribution was not possible. The findings provide locally relevant extension evidence that in-situ residue-management machinery can support timely wheat establishment and favourable farm-level returns when machinery access, training, and complementary agronomic practices are available.