Does adoption of zero tillage reduce crop residue burning? Evidence from satellite remote sensing and household survey data in India

Previous research indicates that zero tillage technology offers a profitable alternative to crop residue burning, with significant potential to reduce agricultural emissions and contribute to improvements in air quality and public health. Yet, empirical evidence on the link between zero tillage adoption and residue burning remains scarce, adding to the difficulties policy makers face in this context. This study addresses this gap by integrating high-resolution satellite imagery with household survey data from India to examine the empirical relationship between zero tillage and residue burning. We compare different methods for constructing burn indicators from remote-sensing data and assess their predictive power against survey-based measures. Our findings reveal a robust negative association between zero tillage and crop residue burning, with reductions in the incidence of burning of 50% or more across both survey data and satellite-derived indicators. By providing insights into optimal geospatial data integration methods, our study also makes a methodological contribution that can inform future research and support evidence-based policy interventions for more sustainable agricultural practices.