Journal of Cereal Research Volume 14 (2): 108-128 Review Article Homepage: http://epubs.icar.org.in/ejournal/index.php/JWR On and Off Farm Crop Residue Management: A brief review on Options, Benefts, Drawbacks, Limitations and Policy Interventions Deepti Singh and Usha Mina * School of Environmental Sciences, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi-110067 Article history: Received: 27 July, 2022 Revised: 04 Sept., 2022 Accepted: 06 Oct., 2022 Citation: Singh D and U Mina. 2022. On and Off Farm Crop Residue Management: A brief review on Options, Benefts, Drawbacks, Limitations and Policy Interventions. Journal of Cereal Research 14 (2): 108-128. http://doi.org/10.25174/2582- 2675/2022/123108 *Corresponding author: E-mail: ushamina@mail.jnu.ac.in © Society for Advancement of Wheat and Barley Research Abstract India ranks as second largest country for agro-based economy having about 1.79 MKM 2 agricultural land that generates approximately 686 Million Tonnes (MT) of gross crop residues including approximately 234 MT surplus residues annually. In 686 MT crop residue, contribution of crop types as well as states is variable. In the present study, the role of crop residue as an important natural and renewable resource along with their on and off farm management options having their own benefts, drawbacks and limitations were discussed. Various terminologies used for crops’ residue and methodoloies used to estimate their generation potential were analysed. Different factors regulating the crop residue usage for diverse purposes which affects their end use were identifed and listed. As, raw and condensed form of crop residues have different physico-chemical properties and resource value. Various on and off farm crop residue management options including crop residue burning, residue removal, residue retention, residue incorporation, composting, biochar production, livestock feed, mushroom cultivation, biofuel biogas and bioenergy production from different crop residues were compared. Various Government initiatives to minimise and support the unsustainable and sustainable crop residue management options, respectively were reviewed. Key words: Crop residues, Crop residue generation potential, Crop Residue management option, On and Off farm options. 1. Introduction In India total agricultural land occupies 1.79 MKM 2 (60.5% of total land area). As per World Bank (2010), agricultural land basically corresponds to the portion of total land which is arable (53.2%). 3.8% and 3.5% arable land is under permanent crops and pasture, respectively. With net area of around 180 Million hectare under the agricultural cultivation and about 140% cropping intensity (Cardoen et al., 2015), India generates huge amount of agricultural residues. Agricultural residues include - livestock residue (both commercial and household livestock) and crop residue (includes non-edible plant parts that are left in the feld after the crop being harvested, thrashed or left after pastures grazed including leaves, stalk, stubbles, straws and roots) (FAO, 2014; Lal, 2005).Crop residues are basically the crop parts that remained after all the economic part of the crop has been separated out (Shahane et. al., 2016). As per the estimations, India generates around 686 Million Tonnes (MT) (Hiloidhari et al., 2014; Singh et al., 2020) of crop residue on farm plus off farm annually. Of total residue generated, feld crops such as cereals, pulses, sugarcane and oilseeds contribute 545 MT, 79.8 MT is contributed by fber crops such as Jute and cotton and 61 108