Industry Ministry seeks help to curb illegal sugarcane burning

[snoop1130]

 

Thailand’s Ministry of Industry is seeking cooperation from the Ministry of Interior and the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment to curb the illegal burning of sugarcane in 15 provinces, which is contributing to the increasing air pollution.

 

According to the Industry Ministry, 29.81% of 15 million tonnes of the sugarcane crop were burned between December 1st and January 31st, which is equivalent to burning of 240,000 hectares of forest.

 

Panuwat Triyangkulsri, deputy permanent secretary of industry, said that the burning of sugarcane is the major generator of PM2.5 dust in the atmosphere in Bangkok and several other provinces.

 

Full Story: https://www.thaipbsworld.com/industry-ministry-seeks-help-to-curb-illegal-sugarcane-burning/

 

-- © Copyright Thai PBS 2023-02-10

 

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[trainman34014]

As it's against the Law shouldn't the Police be Prosecuting the Offenders ?   Too busy collecting Helmet Fines i guess to be doing something really important !

[VocalNeal]

More demand for ethanol mix gasoline means more sugar cane grown means more....????

[Gottfrid]

Easy! Just confiscate the land.

[Damrongsak]

How about working with the sugar cane buyers/processors to deduct a portion of the price paid as a penalty.  Call it a pollution tax or whatever.

 

[redsongthaew]

Very heavily fine any sugarcane mill that purchased any burnt sugarcane. Without buyers the farmers would not burn their crops.

 

Then actually enforce the law.

[OneMoreFarang]

There must be a statistic somewhere how often people were fined for burning, or officially not find.

Follow the money...

[Hakuna Matata]

AQI (Air Quality Index) is getting worse and worse! Many asthmatic people suffer, and I am coughing as well every morning.

[edwinchester]

9 hours ago, Damrongsak said:

How about working with the sugar cane buyers/processors to deduct a portion of the price paid as a penalty.  Call it a pollution tax or whatever.

 

They already do this. Sugarcane growers get a higher price for unburnt cane. It's burnt to make it easier to cut by the manual labour. A simple solution would be for the Govt to make it illegal for the factories to buy burnt cane...the problem would end overnight.

[edwinchester]

6 hours ago, OneMoreFarang said:

There must be a statistic somewhere how often people were fined for burning, or officially not find.

Follow the money...

We've reported burning in our area in the past, the police were totally disinterested in doing anything.

[edwinchester]

6 hours ago, redsongthaew said:

Very heavily fine any sugarcane mill that purchased any burnt sugarcane. Without buyers the farmers would not burn their crops.

 

Then actually enforce the law.

Burning is illegal, buying burnt cane is not, go figure that out. The problem will disappear if it were illegal for factories to buy burnt cane as suggested.

As an aside one of wifeys friends grows sugarcane. Last year she didn't want to burn the cane as the mill pays more for unburnt. The night before it was due to be cut the whole lot went up in flames. The labourers burnt it as it makes it alot easier to cut, quicker so they can rapidly move on to the next cutting job.

This year she arranged for a mechanical cutter.

[xtrnuno41]

Instead of buying submarines, buy some sugarcane cutters.

Hand it over to the farmers, subsidies that !

The cost of that will probably lower then all people suffering from the smoke going to hospital. Of course have maintenance done as well.

This baby cost $800. It is not that difficult, but government of course cost and that's what they dont like. No vision.

I red king Bhumibol once provided 2wheeld tractors, so why cant they now? 

[rudi49jr]

Here’s a novel idea: there are thousands and thousands of men employed by the State, wearing a brown uniform, and most of the time they sit around with their thumbs up their ***. Either that, or they’re shaking down someone.

Would it be too much to ask of them to start doing their actual job? I’m sure a couple thousands cops, if they put their mind to it, can stop a hell of a lot of burning. Same goes for the north, by the way, where the air quality in many places is already (and has been for a while) at dangerous levels. 

[connda]

How about the burning of the corn fields on the deforested mountains in Mae Hong Son?  Just saying......Big-Ag profits.  Privatize the profits; socialize the losses.

[bang saen guy]

I read somewhere that planes were spraying water on forests. Why not extinguish cane fires?

[worgeordie]

20 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

According to the Industry Ministry, 29.81% of 15 million tonnes of the sugarcane crop were burned between December 1st and January 31st

As usual ,.....a bit too late ,next year try and be proactive .....i know , i know ,wishful thinking

regards worgeordie

 

[kickstart]

21 hours ago, Damrongsak said:

How about working with the sugar cane buyers/processors to deduct a portion of the price paid as a penalty.  Call it a pollution tax or whatever.

 

They already do. the sugar cane mill will deduct money from burnt sugar cane sent to the mill, and farmers know that.

I see Lopburi province is on the list of provinces with a lot of burning, in our area no cane is burnt, and we have 3 mills and a lot of cane. {were dose the op get their facts from.}

Another reason cane is burnt, and a big one it makes the job easier for the cutters, as all the work is done on piece work, more you cut more money you earn, most cutter are Cambodians, Burmese and Laos, and as cutters are getting more difficult to find growers will burn cane.

In our area most cane is cut by machine, but not so in all areas with a secondhand imported machine costing 2 million baht plus not cheap, and a grower near here has spent almost 100 000 baht on diesel for his machine this year @ 35 baht liter just to cut 120 rie the engine on a cane harvester is 250 hp, hardly environmentally friendly.

[kickstart]

3 hours ago, bang saen guy said:

I read somewhere that planes were spraying water on forests. Why not extinguish cane fires?

Cane is burnt in the late evening when it is dark, reason, very little wind/ breeze, compared to during the day and it can be seen to keep it under control.

Will plans fly at nighttime at very low level, no.

[bang saen guy]

1 hour ago, kickstart said:

Cane is burnt in the late evening when it is dark, reason, very little wind/ breeze, compared to during the day and it can be seen to keep it under control.

Will plans fly at nighttime at very low level, no.

Thanks. I learned something