Ahead of the paddy season, the Punjab government has approved its action plan for 2026-27, by setting aside more than 43 per cent of the total allocations for crop stubble management.Of the total annual action plan of Rs 1,388 crore approved at a high-level meeting on Monday, Rs 600 crore has been set aside for crop residue management. The plan has already been submitted to the Union Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, said state Agriculture Minister Gurmeet Singh Khudian.The largest outlay has been allocated under the Crop Residue Management (CRM) scheme to tackle farm fires, said Khudian, adding, “Our goal is to provide in-situ and ex-situ machinery to farmers at subsidised rates to ensure a permanent solution to stubble burning.”Punjab managed to reduce stubble burning incidents during the last paddy season (2025) by an impressive 53 per cent. As many as 5,114 incidents were reported in 2025, compared to 10,909 in 2024.Besides crop residue management, the action plan lays emphasis on water conservation, crop diversification and natural farming. To address depleting water tables, Rs 33.33 crore has been earmarked for the ‘Per Drop More Crop’ component, which will promote efficient water application devices like drips, sprinklers and rain guns.Meanwhile, Rs 51.85 crore has been allocated for seed improvement and cotton demonstration projects, and Rs 95 crore has been set aside under the Sub-Mission on Agricultural Mechanisation (SMAM) to boost farm efficiency.A sum of Rs 50.30 crore has been set aside for crop diversification to steer farmers away from water-guzzling paddy cultivation towards maize, pulses and oilseeds. In line with the push for chemical-free agriculture, Rs 8.25 crore has been proposed for natural farming initiatives.