When does the burn ban start and end in Thailand?

[CALSinCM]

When does the burn ban start and end in Thailand?

[jvs]

The burn ban start when your neighbor has something to burn and it ends when you need to burn something.

Seems everyone is against the burning that created the smog but nobody

seems to "not burn"

Stop blaming the useless government and start blaming yourself but of course that does not really hit home by most.

[richard_smith237]

30 minutes ago, CALSinCM said:

When does the burn ban start and end in Thailand?

Perhaps the wrong question to ask... 

 

The question should be... ‘Does any farmer ever take any notice of any of the burn bans ?’ !!!! 

[KhunLA]

As soon as the rains stop, and can be mid Oct.   Full on by mid Nov till rains start, about mid May.  

 

Really depends where are, as to how early.  In a rice, corn farming area, and it will be sooner.   Where I am, coconuts & pineapples, and not till after Dec, full on smog, and a lot of that is blown down with the NE winds.

[orchis]

The 2023 burning ban started 15 February and runs until the end of April.
Which is highly ironic given the current situation.

[BananaStrong]

Ban started!!!!  If you see a fire, smoke, whatever....go tell them there is a ban!!!!!!

 

 

[MJCM]

The village chief was talking about the ban during his morning "lecture" on the Village Speaker system just this morning (according to my wife) and while he was still talking someone set fire to his field.

 

So that is the BAN for you

[foreverlomsak]

1 hour ago, richard_smith237 said:

Perhaps the wrong question to ask... 

 

The question should be... ‘Does any farmer ever take any notice of any of the burn bans ?’ !!!! 

Only when he has the local officials standing over him, and he can always say somebody must have dropped a lit cigarette end or wasn't here when it started so I don't know anything. 

[Elkski]

When will a burn ban be enforced.   Let's see.   When people look earn to compost. When burned crops can't be bought from the processors. When mandatory trash services are required. 

[Tom H]

Burning season whole year.

Weather inversion only December-end of March.

 

Weather inversion layers cold warm cold?

google????. 

 

They burn also in June:) but no PM2.5 issue then. Just see the fire map for all months:).

 

 

[sidneybear]

It depends whom you know and how much you pay.

[rwill]

Thanks.  I needed a good laugh.

[bangon04]

The burn ban law starts and ends the same dates as the compulsory seatbelt law and the compulsory motorcycle helmet law and all the other laws in Thailand.

[blazes]

17 hours ago, MJCM said:

The village chief was talking about the ban during his morning "lecture" on the Village Speaker system just this morning (according to my wife) and while he was still talking someone set fire to his field.

 

So that is the BAN for you

"his field"????   Would that be the chief's field (as your sentence says)??

[foreverlomsak]

1 hour ago, blazes said:

"his field"????   Would that be the chief's field (as your sentence says)??

Probably, and he's got a perfect alibi, he wasn't there he was on the PA system.

[spidermike007]

There is no burn ban. It exists on paper, but it rarely ever enforced, because the authorities do not care one iota about public health. It means nothing to them. Money trumps everything for these small men, and if they cared, it would be backed up by enforcement of the law.

 

There is a very simple solution to this problem. If the authorities were interested in solutions. The burning has to stop. There are alternatives, to this 19th century technique of burning after the sugar cane harvest. Either the government starts to encourage farmers to switch to more environmentally friendly crops, or they start to penalize farmers for burning. This heinous burning, is leading to a tremendous degree of environmental degradation, and alot of lung disease. So here is what I propose-

1. Fine the farmers 5,000 baht for a first offense, and give them a stern warning, that burning is now prohibited, and the second fine will be very harsh.
2. For a second offense, fine the farmer 100,000 baht, and warn them that if the burning continues, their land will be confiscated.
3. On the 3rd offense, confiscate their land. Period. No questions. No legal proceeding or appeals on the part of the farmers. Allow others to come in and purchase the land at a fair price, with the caveat that sugar is prohibited as a crop to be grown on that land.
The news would travel faster than the toxic smoke, and farmers would change their ways overnight, and move into the 21st century.

Then they can move on to tackle the sale of diesel vehicles, and the government's enthusiastic support of such. It is inane in this day and age. Most nations are moving away from diesel for good reasons. When they are not well maintained, they foul the air, with large, nasty particles. And who properly maintains their vehicle here?

[Slickrick]

Whenever the person wants to burn, they burn.  It never ends.

[fusion58]

As with most environmental, social and economic problems in Thailand, as long as the authorities are a bunch of lazy, greedy <deleted> who simply want to use their power to generate as much profit for themselves with as little effort as possible, nothing will ever change.

[h90]

There  is a burn ban since decades...enforced similar to the helmet mandate of motorbike

[h90]

10 hours ago, fusion58 said:

As with most environmental, social and economic problems in Thailand, as long as the authorities are a bunch of lazy, greedy <deleted> who simply want to use their power to generate as much profit for themselves with as little effort as possible, nothing will ever change.

And I rather prefer a lazy, greedy government than some dictatorial that enforce nonsense with all their police power, like in Germany....
I hope that does not change.....But on the air quality something must be done....

[sidneybear]

On 3/5/2023 at 1:19 PM, KhunLA said:

As soon as the rains stop, and can be mid Oct.   Full on by mid Nov till rains start, about mid May.  

 

Really depends where are, as to how early.  In a rice, corn farming area, and it will be sooner.   Where I am, coconuts & pineapples, and not till after Dec, full on smog, and a lot of that is blown down with the NE winds.

Right. The rain puts the fires out.

[KhunLA]

1 hour ago, sidneybear said:

Right. The rain puts the fires out.

And make things too wet to burn, aside from providing water to actually make it worthwhile to plant things.  All life needs water, some a wee bit more than pineapples. & coconuts.

[Tarteso]

"An evil for many is a consolation for dumb people" 
 

Poor Chineses..actually

 

[Andycoops]

It doesn't.

The burn season is all year long as and when required.

[rickudon]

Did my 4th burn today. Brother-in-law 100 metres away had a smouldering pile, which stank of plastic, so i said to self, why wait?

My fires are small, very dry (not much smoke) and only last about 15 minutes.

 

As for how practical a ban is, consider this.

1. Farm very small,  just over one rai not counting the pond. Not practical to buy a tractor.

2. Wife did hire a man and tractor to plough the farm, but he did an awful job ( i wasn't there to stop him). He just left a pile of soil and grass on one side of the field, also obliterating most of the path on one side of the pond - which also included 2 small coconut palms, 2 small bananas and 3 other small fruit trees he couldn't be arsed to avoid. Clearing up that mess by hand has taken 3 months.

3. One days rain just turned the soil back to concrete - a hoe just bounces off. As for the stubble rotting down - no, most of it is still there unless buried over 15 cms down. Had to dig out a lot of the grass out of the 'pile' and burn it as it wasn't fit to plant anything in.

4. Last 2 fires were mainly Eucalyptus leaves which i had raked up - they were up to 10 cms deep and do not rot down easily (have seen some which have survived at least 3 years!). Could have left them on the path next to the road, but one cigarette....... could have burnt the trees, fence etc.

5. Composting - I do compost a lot, but some stuff is too stubborn. 3 years ago i made a 5 metre long pile of coarse grass dragged out of the pond, took over 2 years to rot down.

 

I have spent 2 hours a day, 5-6 days a week for the past 4 months just doing maintenance on the farm - 10 seconds with a lighter saves a lot of time.

 

Fortunately, our area doesn't have any large scale burning, and air quality is rarely bad in the village - visibility is good and air 'tastes' ok. Only used our air purifier about 3 days in last 3 years. Just the local maintenance fires. Probably better as so many rice fields are now derelict, so not burnt (I reckon about 75% of paddies around our village not growing rice any more). 

[bluejets]

On 3/5/2023 at 3:43 PM, CALSinCM said:

When does the burn ban start and end in Thailand?

And you've been in Thailand how long...???

Wake up and take notice of a gazillion other things as well and simply just accept it.

[nigelforbes]

On 3/5/2023 at 4:29 PM, Tom H said:

Burning season whole year.

Weather inversion only December-end of March.

 

Weather inversion layers cold warm cold?

google????. 

 

They burn also in June:) but no PM2.5 issue then. Just see the fire map for all months:).

 

 

I agree of course, but sadly the posters on this forum don't do inversion layers, they're too complicated and anyway, they can't be seen whilst burning can. ????

[HuskerDo2]

On 3/5/2023 at 4:11 AM, Elkski said:

When will a burn ban be enforced.   Let's see.   When people look earn to compost. When burned crops can't be bought from the processors. When mandatory trash services are required. 

Yea, if the govt would send trucks around to pick this stuff up so the farmers don't need to burn it and take it all to a composting site they can turn around and sell the compost and use the proceeds to buy more trucks. My grandfather was a farmer and he never burnt a thing. He would plow things under in the fall and it would basically turn into compost/fertilizer for the next planting season. It's amazing how the Thai govt doesn't seem to have the capacity to think more clearly.