Chandigarh, Feb. 18 -- The Punjab agriculture department has decided to introduce five-year financing for crop residue management (CRM) machines, which will be provided to farmers on a subsidy hypothecated to banks for in-situ stubble management, especially during the paddy harvest season. The machines will be hypothecated to banks to ensure they are not lost, misplaced, or sold.

The subsidy amount on the machines will be transferred to the banks instead of the farmers, as was practised earlier. The machines will be hypothecated by the banks, fixing farmers' responsibility to preserve the machines for at least five years during the time frame when they are paying instalments for the machines.

The government offers a subsidy of 30% to 80...