Slash And Burning In Chiang Mai... You Are Thai, What Do You Think?

[Johpa]

We are still fascinated by finding out, in casual conversation with a Thai friend at the health club, that Thailand is a net importer of soy beans (he's in the business of bringing them in from Brazil). Our friend also said soy bean is not a profitable crop here since the soil doesn't have the right whatever to get high-yield. We'd like to know the extent to which soy is grown around northern Thailand.

I saw quite a bit of soy being planted in the Mae Rim and Samoeng districts. Around my in-law's neighborhood soy continues to be a popular second crop after the rice. I doubt it is very profitable as the in laws just scrape along decade after decade. I have tried to get them to find something more profitable, but it is what they are familiar with. But there are not many other crops that can be easily planted in the padi and irrigated with the existing gravity fed systems.

There is a new irrigation reservoir that will be serving areas of north Samoeng near the village of Mae Pa, on the road to the Pong Kwao hot springs. It will be interesting to observe over the years how this reservoir will affect the local agriculture.

[KevinHunt]

 I'm not Thai, but I thought I'd let you know that I was just busy burning some DVD's , then I went for a slash. So, I managed to have a slash while I was burning! No problem. 

Edited December 13, 2009 by KevinHunt

[Donnyboy]

I'm not Thai, but I thought I'd let you know that I was just busy burning some DVD's , then I went for a slash. So, I managed to have a slash while I was burning! No problem.

im glad we didnt have a thread about dumping of waste

[KevinHunt]

I'm not Thai, but I thought I'd let you know that I was just busy burning some DVD's , then I went for a slash. So, I managed to have a slash while I was burning! No problem.

im glad we didnt have a thread about dumping of waste

Maybe I should have done that too. At least it would have been a load off my mind.

[orang37]

[im glad we didnt have a thread aboutdumping of waste

Maybe I should have done that too. At least it would have been a load off my mind.

Sawasdee Khrup Khun Kevin,

We have often wondered exactly where in your body your mind was located, so that is clarifying.

But, lest you think we wax grandiloquent at your expense here, let us eat some "humble pie," and confess that our male human container, for many years of his life, located a large part of his brain in a floppy (most of the time) organ hanging off his pubic bone. He claims that's typical of the life-cycle of the male of the human species; speaking as his conjoined-in-bliss Orang soul-mind I think that's just another example of humans' shocking tendencies for self-deceit.

regards, ~o:37;

Edited December 13, 2009 by orang37

[cloudhopper]

We'd like to know the extent to which soy is grown around northern Thailand.

Soy and garlic seem to be very common second crops before and after rice here.

IMO periodic burning off the dead underbrush is good forest management and the only way to prevent catastrophic fires like we see every year in my home state of CA. Global burning related to agriculture will probably only increase as overpopulation meets declining potash supply. The environmental damage from these practices will be minimal compared with the subsequent effects of resource-driven large scale warfare between the developed nations.

[VitalGirl]

Lots of discussion about burning of rice stubble but in my 7 years experience here, a HUGE amount of the air pollution comes from the burning of leaves etc domestically. Also, because we don't have a rubbish bin system where we live, but you have to buy the stamped black bags that are volume constrained, there is a financial disincentive for poorer Thai people - if they burn rubbish they can save on the regulation black rubbish bags. On any given morning now you'll see 5-10 little fires next to the road, belching smoke.... that's in the maybe 1km strip form our house to the market/bridge. I used to bleat about it louder than most on this forum, but the simple answer is that the burning will decrease markedly only if you can get people to keep and recycle green waste in a viable way. Domestic composting NOT VIABLE where we live (about 100m from Ping River) - most Thai houses here don;t have the space and in the dry season its a major breeding ground for snakes and scorpions, hence the Thais burn and lay down more concrete. But plastic and glass bottles, newspapers etc - people even come door to door at our place asking for our rubbish to recycle! So we just need an entrepreneurial spirit to make green waste collection commerically viable and smart.... In Melbourne where I used to live before here, they have regular green waste collection and yes, it's either mulched or composted and the end-product sold. If you contribute lots of green waste you get a coupon for x kilos free. We just have to encourage the incredibly smart, pragmatic, Thai brains to apply some energy and incentive to this problem.

[Hugh Jarse]

Looking right out my window I can easily see a haze over Doi Suthep, and, given that it is December, wonder where it is coming from? True, come Feb. - March it will be much worse.

Here I am sitting in my garden on a lovely December morning(just off the Hang dong end of the Canal road) enjoying superb clean air and brilliant blue skies. A few days ago it was hazy owing to the burning off of waste rice crops. It is unfortunate that burning goes on (to accelerate the process of decay) but with enough protest, I like to think, matters will get better, rather as they did in Europe following the banning of this practice.

To answer Xenophes original enquiry; I have interviewed many Thai's about this and the general consensus (if you can get an honest answer) is we have always done things this way.. foreigners should understand this... if you dont like it , find somewhere else to live.

I try and get away during march April and can thoroughly recommend southern Thailand to Xenophanes.

PS Anyone have any answers to these questions : 1. Are northern Thai farmers pyromaniacs? And,

2 Why are the senior civil servants responsible for public health in Bangok and Chiang Mai so inept at dealing with this age old problem. It is not just about corporate interests and elites maintaining monoplies is it?

[xenophanes]

Thank you HughJarse for being one of the few on this thread to have actually addressed the op. A couple of heavy evening downpours this week have cleared the air and dampened the fires so all is, for now, well.

PS Greetings to you from my old chum, Hugh Jampton.

[el jefe]

A couple of heavy evening downpours this week have cleared the air and dampened the fires so all is, for now, well.

Well that didn't last long. 24 hours later and everything has dried out enough that the fires have started up again. I don't mind when the farmers burn the rice fields, but there were several huge areas burning along the Prem road (Rte 3009) today. There's really no excuse for clearing the brush along the side of the road by burning it.

[ntfeeney]

doi Suthep does not dissappear. if you go to there aroud

jan to April. It's okay.

Note: this message was written by one of my ESL students. Thanks for reading.

[Mapguy]

doi Suthep does not dissappear. if you go to there aroud

jan to April. It's okay.

Note: this message was written by one of my ESL students. Thanks for reading.

What ?!! Or, is it, "Say what ?!"

Ah, well. Practicing a new language is a good thing.

Otherwise, the "phantom" pollution monitoring station has reappeared on the pcd site. There are normally two air pollution monitoring stations in the entire province. It is the "chiangmai" location on the PCD site: http://www.pcd.go.th/AirQuality/Regional/Default.cfm . The appearance of this third monitoring station in Chiang Mai Province has to do mainly, it seems, with the residence of certain people at the "winter palace" which is high on Doi Suthep above the city. It is the season, after all, to enjoy the cool air of Northern Thailand.

The good news is that the air is really, really, REALLY clear up there! And quite decent "down here" among us hoi poloi ! Seems we are over the early late December) agricultural burning. But then, I wouldn't be surprised that the farmers took a break for the New Year! Let's see when they go back to torching the rice stubble. I recently took a drive around the Doi Suthep - Pui area. There is a lot of it still standing in the fields. Closer to Chiang Mai, in the reservoir area --- which is supposed to be supervised national forest, there's been brush burning. Maybe accidental fires from drunks at picnics who are smokers tossing butts into the brush. But I was surprised to see a fire engine dousing one blaze!

Anyway, when it is nice, it is really, really nice! Enjoy!

[alant]

how does crop burning increase annual co2 emmisions?

[harrry]

I'm not Thai, but I thought I'd let you know that I was just busy burning some DVD's , then I went for a slash. So, I managed to have a slash while I was burning! No problem.

im glad we didnt have a thread about dumping of waste

Maybe I should have done that too. At least it would have been a load off my mind.

Hope you washed with the free water