Burning issue: how enzymes could end India’s problem with stubble

Bans failed to stop farmers torching fields each year but a new spray that turns stalks into fertiliser helps the soil and the air

Every autumn, Anil Kalyan, from Kutail village in India's northern state of Haryana, would join tens of thousands of other paddy farmers to set fire to the leftover stalks after the rice harvest to clear the field for planting wheat.

But this year, Kalyan opted for change. He signed his land up for a trial being held in Haryana and neighbouring Punjab as an alternative to the environmentally hazardous stubble burning that is commonplace across India and a major cause of Delhi's notorious smog.