From Green Revolution to green energy in India: institutional and farmer dynamics of biomass adoption in Punjab

The transition from the Green Revolution to biomass-based energy in India is marked by ecological stress and institutional constraints. Punjab, a state pivotal to the food security of India, is confronting severe groundwater depletion and persistent stubble-burning challenges arising from increasingly compressed cropping cycles. Employing a mixed-methods framework, the study integrates Propensity Score Matching (PSM) for the estimation of income effects with Ethnographic Decision Modelling (EDM) to interrogate the socio-institutional logics underpinning ex-situ crop residue management (CRM) adoption. The PSM estimates indicate that adopters realize an income premium of INR 21,800 to 26,300 (USD 264 to 319) per hectare annually, with adoption mediated by access to extension services, institutional credit, asset ownership, and proximity to procurement centres. Ethnographic evidence further reveals that adopters prioritize timely field preparation, express dissatisfaction with in-situ alternatives, and value the presence of stubble collection facilities, while non-adopters report rigid sowing schedules, infrastructural deficits, and the normalization of burning as binding constraints. Survey responses indicate negligible divergence on broad policy instruments but pronounced differences on decentralized interventions. The viability of biomass management is contingent on local infrastructure, targeted incentives, and coordinated co-governance among the Union, state, and farmer unions, reconciling environmental objectives with social priorities.