Lahore: Chief Minister Punjab Maryam Nawaz Sharif's awareness campaign promoting the use of modern agricultural machinery and discouraging the burning of paddy crop residues has evolved into a province-wide movement across Punjab.Farmers from various districts have pledged their full support to the Punjab Government's initiative aimed at curbing the environmental and health hazards caused by crop residue burning. For the first time in Punjab's history, widespread adoption of modern farming machinery has brought a marked reduction in smog levels.Teams of the Punjab Government are actively conducting awareness campaigns in rice- and wheat-growing regions, educating farmers on the benefits of using super seeders, balers, and modern harvesters to manage crop residues effectively.Under this campaign, 91 balers and 814 Kubota harvesters are currently operational across Punjab. Using these machines, crop residues have been collected from 31,630 acres with balers, and from 314,000 acres with Kubota harvesters.For the first time, a large number of farmers have opted to collect crop residues for livestock fodder instead of burning them. Farmers interacting with the provincial awareness teams remarked:'We did not burn crop residues this time because it causes smog and health problems. Instead, we used machinery to collect straw for animal feed.'Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz Sharif expressed gratitude to the farmers of Punjab for their cooperation and responsible participation, appreciating their support for the government's environment-friendly and agriculture-supportive initiative.