SPECIAL REPORT: The bitter truth behind the sugarcane boom

[webfact]

SPECIAL REPORT: The bitter truth behind the sugarcane boom

By CHULARAT SAENGPASSA 
THE NATION

 

Paddy fields mix with sugarcane plantations, which are more often sprayed with herbicides, in Si Boon Ruang District of Nongbua Lamphu province where a|relatively high number of flesheating disease cases have been detected.

 

As more and more rice farmers switch to sugarcane, health issues and conflict arise over exposure to excessive chemicals
 

IN THE PAST few years, the country has seen a big rise in sugarcane plantations, as the government has seriously nudged rice farmers into considering alternative crops in the face of plunging rice prices. 

 

The government policy may, however, have simply led to another big problem. Sugarcane farmers have often used controversial chemical herbicides such as paraquat, which is now blamed for several cases of necrotising fasciitis, commonly known as flesh-eating disease – an infection that results in the death of the body’s soft tissue – and cellulitis, to an excessive level. 

 

Several sugarcane farmers in Nong Bua Lamphu province, for example, have admitted that they use paraquat in amounts far higher than what is recommended on the product label.

 

“In Tambon Boontan of Nong Bua Lamphu’s Suwannakhuha district, sugarcane farmers have really used a high amount of chemicals,” Assoc Professor Puangrat Kajitvichyanukul from Naresuan University said, citing findings from an ongoing research study. She is a key researcher for the project that aims to determine health and environmental impacts from farm chemicals and encourage organic farming. Across Thailand, about 27 in 100,000 Thais are diagnosed with necrotising fasciitis. But in Nong Bua Lamphu, that rate almost doubles to 49.8 in 100,000.

 

“There is a link between the use of farm chemicals and flesh-eating diseases,” Puangrat affirmed.

 

 

According to her, chemicals used at sugarcane plantations have also spread to nearby areas and even to local water sources.

 

Puangrat observed that the Non Sang district of Nong Bua Lamphu has suffered the most from flesh-eating diseases, despite hosting just a little over 10,000 rai (1600 hectares) of sugarcane plantations, because it was in a downstream zone. 

 

“We are now in the process of studying whether the contaminated water spread further to Pong River in Khon Kaen and affected more people downstream,” she said. “We will find the answers so as to explore solutions.” 

 

Sompong Saepho, a village head in Tambon Boontan, said he had now turned one-third of his farmland into sugarcane plantations because of the falling rice price. “In the past, my whole farmland was paddy fields. But lately, I have noticed that locals have increasingly embraced sugarcane plantations,” he said. Sompong said he found sugarcane plantations more profitable than paddy fields. 

 

Asked about the use of farm chemicals, the village head said, “They are necessary. They save cost and labour.”

 

Apai Namsom, a farmer in Ban Pho Si Sanga of Nong Bua Lamphu’s Muang district, said he had converted 30 out of 32 rai of his paddy fields into sugarcane plantations in 2010. 

 

“Sugarcane plantations are doing well even when flooded. Buyers come to our plantations to get the crop. We don’t have to go after buyers,” he said. 

 

Since 2010, sugarcane plantations have been growing fast in Ban Pho Si Sanga – from none to about 500 rai now. This is nearly half of the village’s total farmland. The significant growth has a lot to do with government efforts. Since 2010, the government started gearing towards zoning for the country’s agricultural sector with the aim of encouraging farmers to grow crops suitable to their context. 

 

The efforts then gained solid momentum in 2013, with the government officially announcing its “agricultural zoning” policy. 

 

As part of this policy, the government encouraged investments in sugarcane and the sugar industry, as well as the food and energy sectors that have relied on economic crops. 

 

 

The Office of Cane and Sugar Board, which works under the Industry Ministry, has even come up with the plan to increase the country’s total sugarcane plantation area by 5.54 million rai by 2026 from 10.53 million rai in 2015. The goal for this plan is to boost sugarcane output from 105.96 million tonnes in 2015 to 180 million tonnes by 2026.

 

To do so, the yield per rai must go up from 10.06 tonnes to 11.40 tonnes.

 

If the plan is successful, Thailand should be able to produce 20.36 million tonnes of sugar in 2026 – a far cry from 11.14 million tonnes in 2015.

 

In 2015, there were just 280,000 rai of sugarcane plantations in Nong Bua Lamphu. But the number has now soared to over 600,000 rai. 

 

Biothai Foundation director Witoon Lianchamroon said the reduction in paddy fields had progressed significantly as efforts to promote alternative crops had received a big boost from the government’s Pracha Rath projects. The government has even offered a Bt2,000 subsidy per rai of paddy fields converted into other types of farmland. 

 

“Among the most promoted alternative crops is sugarcane,” he said. “It should be noted that while palm factories have refused to buy crops from farmers using paraquat, sugar factories have not had such a policy.”

 

Witoon complained that promoting sugarcane was now hurting the farmers because sugarcane plantations were using a lot of farm chemicals. 

 

“When paraquat for example spreads into the environment, health risks emerge,” Witoon said. 

 

There is also an increase in conflicts among people growing different types of crops. Since last year, many rice farmers have lodged complaints with authorities about damage they had suffered from suspected leaks of farm chemicals from nearby sugarcane plantations. “When a storm occurs, it brings harmful chemicals to my paddy fields. Then, plants in my fields wither,” Sayan Pimwong said, as he tried to demand compensation. 

 

Jem Tatiwan, 39, said he had lost crops from more than 5 rai of paddy fields as the neighbours kept using chemicals on their sugarcane plantations. 

 

University lecturer Pasakorn Bua-sri, a coordinator and local researcher of the Thailand Research Fund, said he had long worried about conflicts and debts that would arise out of sugarcane plantations. 

 

“And now, conflicts have really happened. Debt issues will follow,” he said, pointing out that sugarcane farmers relied on chemicals and their expenses would be too high for falling sugarcane prices to cover.

 

Sugarcane farmers use between 1.5 and 2 litres of paraquat per rai of sugarcane plantations. Each litre costs about Bt160.

 

Adding other cost such as seeds, fertiliser and farm-hand wages, the cost for each rai of sugarcane plantation is more than Bt4,000.

 

But when sugarcane supply rises significantly, it is very likely that sugarcane prices will drop.

 

This is the second in a three-part series on the health hazards from the use of farm chemicals in Nong Bua Lamphu province.

 

The first report focused on health issues. The third part will focus on organic farming as a sustainable solution.

 

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/detail/national/30348512

 

-- © Copyright The Nation 2018-06-25

[YetAnother]

48 minutes ago, webfact said:

The government policy may, however, have simply led to another big problem. Sugarcane farmers have often used controversial chemical herbicides such as paraquat, which is now blamed for several cases of necrotising fasciitis, commonly known as flesh-eating disease – an infection that results in the death of the body’s soft tissue – and cellulitis, to an excessive level. 

 

Several sugarcane farmers in Nong Bua Lamphu province, for example, have admitted that they use paraquat in amounts far higher than what is recommended on the product label.

bad governance, and so obvious, government could have, should have, banned these chemicals, and hasn't; if you could consolidate the 'government' into a person, you would call him/her Stupid

[flyingtlger]

1 hour ago, webfact said:

 

“There is a link between the use of farm chemicals and flesh-eating diseases,”

 

1 hour ago, webfact said:

chemicals used at sugarcane plantations have also spread to nearby areas and even to local water sources.

Unfortunately, this is why the world looks at Thailand as still a developing country......

[Cadbury]

2 hours ago, webfact said:

The goal for this plan is to boost sugarcane output from 105.96 million tonnes in 2015 to 180 million tonnes by 2026.

That should help the growers and the big fat greedy middlemen providing there are buyers out there.

I wonder if the proposed legislation to reduced the sugar content in soft drinks and other refreshments will be a help also. This is serious head scratching stuff. 

 

2 hours ago, webfact said:

Sugarcane farmers use between 1.5 and 2 litres of paraquat per rai of sugarcane

That's a nice thought. Paraquat in soft drinks! Does it improve the taste I wonder. 

[Lungstib]

2 hours ago, webfact said:

But when sugarcane supply rises significantly, it is very likely that sugarcane prices will drop.

As happened with rice, lamyai, pineapples, rubber, mangoes, oranges, etc. etc. And once more the farmers go off in search of a crop that will pay the monthly installments on the pick-up and feed the family.

This article is just another confirmation of the struggle to make a profit that Thai farmers face. They are encouraged to risk their health and the consumers health by doing whatever it takes to grow a cash crop that will profit some big business far more than themselves.

[Toknarok]

       I have contracted necrotising faciitis twice, the second time resulted in the amputation of my leg. Over the past five years or so hundreds of thousands of rai have been converted from rice to sugar cane in my district alone.

      The use of dangerous chemicals is not the only problem that cultivating cane poses. From November to March every year clouds of dense black smoke blot the landscape as cane growers burn off their crops, dumping ash everywhere.

     Those of us that live in rural areas are well aware of the dangers that grossly overloaded sugar cane trucks present.

[SoilSpoil]

The article doesnt mention the massive burning of sugarcane fields that has created life threatening smog pollution in the lower Northand  large parts of Isan. All these chemicals used become airborne.

[thaiguzzi]

2 hours ago, YetAnother said:

bad governance, and so obvious, government could have, should have, banned these chemicals, and hasn't; if you could consolidate the 'government' into a person, you would call him/her Stupid

Or corrupt.

Where there's chemicals to be sprayed, there is money to be made.....

  Big Pharma vs Little Man = generally only one winner and outcome...

[heybuz]

1 hour ago, SoilSpoil said:

The article doesnt mention the massive burning of sugarcane fields that has created life threatening smog pollution in the lower Northand  large parts of Isan. All these chemicals used become airborne.

There's no need to burn,cane can be cut green and the sugar content is higher when not burnt.The left over trash is then ploughed in.

[ChrisY1]

2 hours ago, Toknarok said:

       I have contracted necrotising faciitis twice, the second time resulted in the amputation of my leg. Over the past five years or so hundreds of thousands of rai have been converted from rice to sugar cane in my district alone.

      The use of dangerous chemicals is not the only problem that cultivating cane poses. From November to March every year clouds of dense black smoke blot the landscape as cane growers burn off their crops, dumping ash everywhere.

     Those of us that live in rural areas are well aware of the dangers that grossly overloaded sugar cane trucks present.

And you still live in this region?

[marko kok prong]

I second what Toknarok says, this year the burning off seemed to go far longer that black snow as they call it gets everywhere,have also noticed much more cane being grown.

[timendres]

7 hours ago, webfact said:

Across Thailand, about 27 in 100,000 Thais are diagnosed with necrotising fasciitis.

Wow. Is it just me, or does that seem like a lot of people?

[Dumbastheycome]

5 hours ago, Cadbury said:

That should help the growers and the big fat greedy middlemen providing there are buyers out there.

I wonder if the proposed legislation to reduced the sugar content in soft drinks and other refreshments will be a help also. This is serious head scratching stuff. 

 

That's a nice thought. Paraquat in soft drinks! Does it improve the taste I wonder. 

I thought  that  is the   taste ??

[Chilon]

Timendres yes, the rate seems high.  In the US I think it around 3/100,000.

 

Worth noting that although chemicals seem to be used excessively in Thailand the statistical link does not prove a causal link.   Other factors may be in play that are the cause and often the researcher is motivated to find a possible cause so as to fund further research.

[fantom]

What is the market for all this suger?  converted to ethanol to put in petrol so we can all be green??

 

Somehow the ducks just dont add up.

[VocalNeal]

12 minutes ago, fantom said:

What is the market for all this suger?  converted to ethanol to put in petrol so we can all be green??

 

Somehow the ducks just dont add up.

 

Not much off the so called green economy does add up. Electric cars? Transfers pollution from the city to the country and so on. African miners digging for lithium? etc etc.

[Cadbury]

4 hours ago, heybuz said:

There's no need to burn,cane can be cut green and the sugar content is higher when not burnt.The left over trash is then ploughed in.

I think you should give Australian cane farmers the same advice. You should be able to see the smoke haze around Mackay while perched high up in your tree.

[heybuz]

11 minutes ago, Cadbury said:

I think you should give Australian cane farmers the same advice. You should be able to see the smoke haze around Mackay while perched high up in your tree.

Most not all ,don't burn now it depends on the contractor. Some are still stuck in the old ways only 10percent of cane is burnt in the Mackay area The sugar mill states that no cane is burnt in their area.

[fantom]

Last night we attended a talk / lecture on rotational farming practice in Chiang Mai by the Karen. The contrast between this practice and the cash cropping of suger cane is breathtaking. The amount of filth that accompanies suger cane mining is appalling and when the suger price collapses then who will clear up? Not the big companies who contract this farming out I'm sure.

 

https://rethink.earth/how-hin-lad-nais-farming-saved-a-forest-and-its-poetry-changed-international-policy/

[ratcatcher]

6 hours ago, thaiguzzi said:

Or corrupt.

Where there's chemicals to be sprayed, there is money to be made.....

  Big Pharma vs Little Man = generally only one winner and outcome...

"Big Pharma vs Little Farmer".      That has the sam eoutcome.

[plachon]

8 hours ago, Cadbury said:

That should help the growers and the big fat greedy middlemen providing there are buyers out there.

I wonder if the proposed legislation to reduced the sugar content in soft drinks and other refreshments will be a help also. This is serious head scratching stuff. 

 

That's a nice thought. Paraquat in soft drinks! Does it improve the taste I wonder. 

Not only soft drinks, how about one's daily water supply? What the article doesn't mention is that the Nam Pong flows into Ubon Ratana reservoir, which is the main source of domestic water for Khon Kaen city and surrounding areas. Then the Nam Pong flows downstream, where its waters are abstracted for agriculture, factories (including soft drinks and lao khao producers) and flows into the Nam Chi, used by 5 provinces downstream to Ubon Ratchatani, and thence into the Mekong. All these rivers and the reservoir are a major source of fish for Isaan, both wild and cultured. 

When in 1992, the sugar cane factory at Nam Pong released tonnes of molasses into the river and wiped out the fish population all the way down to Ubon, there was a justifiable outcry and demands for compensation for losses. But when the pollution is chronic and slowly kills aquatic life and harms human health, as in the case of widespread use of dangerous pesticides, then there is silence borne from public ignorance and official inaction. The old metaphor of the frog in the slowly boiling pot springs to mind.

 

 

[Kinnock]

Obviously paraquat in water can not be good .... but is there really a proven link between increasing usage of paraquat and flesh eating bacteria?

 

I thought the so called 'flesh eating bacteria' issue was related to antibiotic resistance - and the cause of that is excess use of antibiotics.

 

Since it seems to be illegal to walk with 500 meters of a hospital without being given a cocktail of antibiotics, and this trend has been increasing - I think the link to sugar cane may be irrelevant.  It would be just as valid to say that sales of White Toyota Fortunas  have increased over the past 10 years, so they must be responsible for flesh eating bacteria.

[Grusa]

5 hours ago, fantom said:

What is the market for all this suger?  converted to ethanol to put in petrol so we can all be green??

 

Somehow the ducks just dont add up.

The market is BigFood. Like BigPharma, BigMedicine, BigArmaments and BigPolitics, all of whom collude with each other, they care nothing for the health, wealth, or welfare of "the man on the Clapham omnibus".

 

Bottom line, the human body does not need any outside source of sugar to fuel itself. Sugar is sugar - it matters not a whit whether it is glucose, sucrose, fructose, dextrose, laevulose, honey, molasses, treacle....get it? The body runs on glucose, all others, and carbohydrates, are converted into glucose. Excess sugars are converted into fat and stored in the liver, or as subcutaneous "beer belly".

 

Sugar is addictive! Worse than cocaine, weed, even alcohol. That is why all commercial foods, Thai cuisine, reasy meals, drinks, you name it.....contain huge amounts of sugar. And that is why you all love your Big Mac, your KFC, your...I could go on. That is why there is a world-wide epidemic of obesity and type2 diabetes. Both are 100% curable without medication....stop eating sugar, and excess carbohydrates. Just  google ""keto" for a quick entry to the subject, then open your mind. 

 

If any large percentage of excess sugar production - and in this I include sugar precursors like rice, and pineapples - were converted into biofuel, that might - only might - be a good thing. The truth it is most of it goes for human consumption, and it is killing most of you. ?

[grollies]

9 hours ago, heybuz said:

There's no need to burn,cane can be cut green and the sugar content is higher when not burnt.The left over trash is then ploughed in.

The main reason for the burning is to drive out snakes before the workers go in to harvest...or so my missus says.

[KiwiKiwi]

11 hours ago, Toknarok said:

    Those of us that live in rural areas are well aware of the dangers that grossly overloaded sugar cane trucks present. 

 

 

Amen to that. They represent a clear and present danger to other road users, and the damage they do to the roads is immense.

[CLW]

The market is BigFood. Like BigPharma, BigMedicine, BigArmaments and BigPolitics, all of whom collude with each other, they care nothing for the health, wealth, or welfare of "the man on the Clapham omnibus".
 
Bottom line, the human body does not need any outside source of sugar to fuel itself. Sugar is sugar - it matters not a whit whether it is glucose, sucrose, fructose, dextrose, laevulose, honey, molasses, treacle....get it? The body runs on glucose, all others, and carbohydrates, are converted into glucose. Excess sugars are converted into fat and stored in the liver, or as subcutaneous "beer belly".
 
Sugar is addictive! Worse than cocaine, weed, even alcohol. That is why all commercial foods, Thai cuisine, reasy meals, drinks, you name it.....contain huge amounts of sugar. And that is why you all love your Big Mac, your KFC, your...I could go on. That is why there is a world-wide epidemic of obesity and type2 diabetes. Both are 100% curable without medication....stop eating sugar, and excess carbohydrates. Just  google ""keto" for a quick entry to the subject, then open your mind. 
 
If any large percentage of excess sugar production - and in this I include sugar precursors like rice, and pineapples - were converted into biofuel, that might - only might - be a good thing. The truth it is most of it goes for human consumption, and it is killing most of you. [emoji85]

So you are claiming that rice / cereals and fruits are not healthy for the human body?

[nahkit]

1 hour ago, grollies said:

The main reason for the burning is to drive out snakes before the workers go in to harvest...or so my missus says.

Burnt cane is easier to process at the mills than fresh cane although you get less product from it.

[grollies]

3 minutes ago, nahkit said:

Burnt cane is easier to process at the mills than fresh cane although you get less product from it.

Thanks, I didn't know that. Every day's a school day

[InfinityandBeyond]

1 hour ago, Grusa said:

The market is BigFood. Like BigPharma, BigMedicine, BigArmaments and BigPolitics, all of whom collude with each other, they care nothing for the health, wealth, or welfare of "the man on the Clapham omnibus".

 

Bottom line, the human body does not need any outside source of sugar to fuel itself. Sugar is sugar - it matters not a whit whether it is glucose, sucrose, fructose, dextrose, laevulose, honey, molasses, treacle....get it? The body runs on glucose, all others, and carbohydrates, are converted into glucose. Excess sugars are converted into fat and stored in the liver, or as subcutaneous "beer belly".

 

Sugar is addictive! Worse than cocaine, weed, even alcohol. That is why all commercial foods, Thai cuisine, reasy meals, drinks, you name it.....contain huge amounts of sugar. And that is why you all love your Big Mac, your KFC, your...I could go on. That is why there is a world-wide epidemic of obesity and type2 diabetes. Both are 100% curable without medication....stop eating sugar, and excess carbohydrates. Just  google ""keto" for a quick entry to the subject, then open your mind. 

 

If any large percentage of excess sugar production - and in this I include sugar precursors like rice, and pineapples - were converted into biofuel, that might - only might - be a good thing. The truth it is most of it goes for human consumption, and it is killing most of you. ?

Awesome. 

[kickstart]

7 hours ago, fantom said:

What is the market for all this suger?  converted to ethanol to put in petrol so we can all be green??

 

Somehow the ducks just dont add up.

2

At last someone  has written the real reason why sugarcane acreage has increased like it has,all to do with the molasses ,a by-product of sugar cane which is then  fermented down in to ethanol ,for gasohol  ,the more gasohol the less reliant on crude oil imports ,if you can remember 8-9 years ago fule prices rocketed ,so did inflation in LOS ,no government wants that again ,hence promoting the growing of sugar cane  and cassava  too ,and for a lot of farmers it was a good income, better than rice and maize .

But, the land sugar cane is grown on is it suitable, I have read some hair-brained ideas  before 

one was grow more maize, grow it on rice land, rice field are designed to keep water in , maize is a dry land crop, to make a rice field fit for maize a lot of work was needed and it is not cheap . just plant maize it will die of waterlogging  And I think that is the problem here ,sugar cane is a dry land crop ,one farmer said after a rainstorm chemicals spread to my neighbours field, where I am we have a lot of sugar cane, even after a heavy storm very few cane field floods,and we have, as I said a good few thousand  rie , here they are having problems with just 500 rie , the land is just not suitable for cane ,no one has said what yeids these farmers are getting, compared to other cane farmers,  a lot less I would say, yet another hair-brained idea thought up  by some politician who does not no one  end of a sugar cane plant from the other, and now farmers are paying