A pay-for-results model that rewards farmers for managing paddy residue without burning it is turning stubble management into an additional source of income in Punjab, while helping extend no-burn practices to more fields. Under the Nature Conservancy’s PRANA programme, machinery-owning farmers receive incentives for verified stubble management and direct-seeded rice (DSR), over and above the charges they collect from farmers hiring their equipment.

For Manmeet Singh, a 40-year-old farmer from Alipur village in Patiala district, the model builds on a decade of avoiding stubble burning. He now uses his own machinery to provide residue-management services to other farmers, expanding the area under no-burn practices while earning from the equipment.

Manmeet owns 16 acres and cultivates another 24 acres on lease. Through his custom hiring centre, he provides machinery for in-situ crop-residue management and direct-seeded rice (DSR), in which paddy is sown directly rather than transplanted into puddled fields.…