Can we really blame the farmers?

[Genmai]

Something I heard the other day made me think about the current situation regarding our toxic air.

 

"Yes it's terrible but we cannot blame the farmers. The government provides them no assistance in clearing the material and they have no access to the necessary machinery."

 

How true is this?

 

On the one hand everybody knows that the farmers are directly at fault for creating the toxic air by setting fire to their fields, or burning leaves, etc. But on the other, what alternative do they really have? I'm talking about alternatives that would be viable in an agricultural situation. It's all good to talk about how easy composting is in our gardens, but on a larger industrial scale?

 

I remember some talk years ago about NGOs and professors going to teach farmers about creating valuable biochar using nothing but a readily available perforated metal drum. Don't seem to recall that topic popping up in the news lately though. I don't know if this method made any headway?

 

Someone explained to me that sugar cane (as an example) is burnt before harvesting, not after. This is because all the work is done by hand and to harvest raw unburnt sugar cane stalks is far more difficult than after they've been singed. The machinery that harvests raw unburnt sugar cane stalks exists but the Thai government has not purchased it, therefore it is not available to the agricultural co-ops to lease out to farmers.

 

For simpler agricultural tasks (like ploughing plant material back into the soil) the machinery is surely not as complex or expensive. Do Thai farmers not have access to tractors with rototillers? Or they do but choose not to use them? Is it because they are too expensive to lease, or because they are lazy?

 

I don't believe that the farmers are oblivious to the dangers of burning since it's clear most of the burning is done at night. But what are their choices given the situation in Thailand? 

[Lungstib]

The problem appears to lie with single crops on large areas. Corn, sugar and rice the 3 popular. Farmers on the Mae Kok river sides use rice straw to cover garlic, plow in some residual waste and compost others. But these people are producing a variety of crops where this can be done. Massive areas planted by a few 'farmers' can only be quickly and cheaply cleaned by fire and the hill slopes are not conducive to tractor use, they will overturn. Yes, the government needs to show an interest and assist by buying machines for cheap rental but that's as likely as pigs flying.

[Puchaiyank]

Yes we can...blame the farmers, Chinese, Indians, and expats in Pattaya...

 

This way we do not have to address the problem directly...not my way...Thai way...once blame has been addressed we can all go back to sleep...

 

[trawler]

I thought a lot of the burning of virgin forest land was for wild muchrooms that occur after the rainy season starts.This to facilitate the search.I have not seen many rice fields being burnt off around the Don Kaow/Mae Rim area.I know the police visited everyone in our area to remind them of the burning ban.

Has not seemed to help much as far as I can(not) see......Apparently a lot of this crap in Cnx is from Laos and Myanamar.........

[toolpush]

I come from a farm background and where my brothers farm they rent land from others. One of the rental contract stipulations is that they will not take the straw from the harvest. It must be plowed back into the soil. The reason is that it conserves the soil vitality. Contrast that with how the local farmers operate. They are destroying their soil long term by not returning the straw back to the soil.

[canthai55]

Blame the Farmers ? Not 100%

I ride my bikes around - mostly the back of beyond - almost daily

Many roadside ditches - along with 1/2 the hillside - black

Highways Department ? Tessaban ? Amphur ?

In Shallah

[jmd8800]

Just an observation:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chiang_Mai#Air_pollution

[luther]

The picture below was taken last year.  There was a crew of about 30.  At the height of the worst pollution, they were climbing 3 or 4 meters into the woods and raking everything down on the road and burning it.  It seemed almost like a make-work project.  60 km north, a friend's neighbor announced he would be "cleaning" his land on the weekend and that the friend should rake out the ditches bordering their two properties so that the fire would not jump.  Obviously, most of the bio mass being burned is crops, but there's more to it.

[Samuel Smith]

1 minute ago, luther said:

The picture below was taken last year.  There was a crew of about 30.  At the height of the worst pollution, they were climbing 3 or 4 meters into the woods and raking everything down on the road and burning it.  It seemed almost like a make-work project.  60 km north, a friend's neighbor announced he would be "cleaning" his land on the weekend and that the friend should rake out the ditches bordering their two properties so that the fire would not jump.  Obviously, most of the bio mass being burned is crops, but there's more to it.

I think they're creating fire breaks to stop fires started from discarded cigarettes spreading further.  Raking the hillside next to the road is a good idea, but best they don't burn it.

[Samuel Smith]

Farmers burn year round, after harvests.  Now is not a big time for farmers to burn.  I live out in the rice fields & no burning going on at the moment.  Rice fields are either growing rice from groundwater pumping, or abandoned, to be burned before the irrigation water arrives in a month or so.

 

The smoke causing the mess we're in right now is from villagers burning the forests for mushrooms.

[luther]

Not sure how much of it is about burning undergrowth for mushrooms, but would love to read about that. Where I live/bike 30% of farm land is now corn. That has to be a big factor. The debate about where all the smoke is coming from seems silly and counter-productive. The whole problem is what to do with bio mass in general besides burning it, and changing large scale farming. Huge challenge.

[myshem]

6 hours ago, toolpush said:

I come from a farm background and where my brothers farm they rent land from others. One of the rental contract stipulations is that they will not take the straw from the harvest. It must be plowed back into the soil. The reason is that it conserves the soil vitality. Contrast that with how the local farmers operate. They are destroying their soil long term by not returning the straw back to the soil.

 

Do they really know nothing to this extend ? And nobody from the government teaches them how to proceed ?

 

I fear that they will never be able to grow good weed !

 

 

[sjbrownderby]

4 hours ago, Samuel Smith said:

Now is not a big time for farmers to burn. 

It most certainly is. Now is the season of the black snow..........ashes from the burning of sugar cane before the harvest. 

[rwill]

In Ratchaburi they don't burn the sugarcane before harvesting, but they are machine harvested.  They still burn the fields afterwards though.

[Puwa]

According to a Thai agronomist I know, the increased smoke over the last 10-15 years comes from the growth of contract farming of corn for animal feeds. The big agribusinesses create incentives quick monocropping.

[Sydebolle]

Like biking without helmet, because the driver cannot afford the THB 600 price tag for a (certainly crappy) helmet ................. 

[lagavulin1]

Harvesters for unburnt do exist in Thailand. The local big noise here has 5 of the buggers & he is not alone. In addition entrepreneurial smaller guys have modified strimmers and the like. 

I'm puzzled as to why you say "the Thai Government has not purchased any? 

[WatUp]

Burning is cheaper. Way better to leave the organic matter to decompose back to the soil but with all the chemical ferts there isn't much biology left in the soil to break this stuff down and if machines are needed to plow back in then that is an additional cost and seems like a big issue is our competitors like Vietnam, India, Myanmar are still burning. So Thai farmers would incur an extra cost and make them less competitive or lose profit to match market price.

It's a big mess without an easy solution.

 

[dcnx]

A zero tolerance policy needs to be enforced and everyone caught burning imprisoned for a decade or more. They are causing catastrophic health issues and are well aware of what they are doing. 

[Samuel Smith]

21 minutes ago, WatUp said:

Burning is cheaper. Way better to leave the organic matter to decompose back to the soil but with all the chemical ferts there isn't much biology left in the soil to break this stuff down and if machines are needed to plow back in then that is an additional cost and seems like a big issue is our competitors like Vietnam, India, Myanmar are still burning. So Thai farmers would incur an extra cost and make them less competitive or lose profit to match market price.

It's a big mess without an easy solution.

 

ALL rice fields on the flat valley floor of Chiang Mai, & Lamphun are ploughed using tractors.  The poor rice farmers contract the work out.  But they still burn beforehand, though that isn't a major contribution to the current crisis - most burning is in November.  Now, the main problem is forest burns for mushrooms, & corn field burns in the hills, where the forest used to be.  Major corporations are behind the Corn Production.

[canthai55]

39 minutes ago, Samuel Smith said:

 Major corporations are behind the Corn Production.

Another big Thanks to Monsanto, et al

[canthai55]

51 minutes ago, dcnx said:

A zero tolerance policy needs to be enforced and everyone caught burning imprisoned for a decade or more. They are causing catastrophic health issues and are well aware of what they are doing. 

How - pray tell - is the Thai Gov't going to jail foreign nationals in their own country ?

As has been said - ad nauseam - it is not just a Thai caused problems.

Or do we do a Donald Trump and build a 10,000 meter wall around the country so that bad foreign smoke can not get in ?

[Peasandmash]

how wasteful, "blame".  Identify the source and fix it or accept the consequences of doing little or nothing to change the situation. blaming is the product of wasteful thinking.

[jmd8800]

1 hour ago, canthai55 said:

Another big Thanks to Monsanto, et al

 

1 hour ago, Peasandmash said:

how wasteful, "blame".  Identify the source and fix it or accept the consequences of doing little or nothing to change the situation. blaming is the product of wasteful thinking.

There is a saying in the USA: People cannot vote against the interests of Goldman Sachs.

 

In Thailand or the west .... Until oligarchies and power elites are reigned in don't expect any changes in much of anything concerning the welfare of the people. Actually, things are likely to get much worse in the near future.

[Puwa]

On 3/13/2019 at 1:56 PM, Puwa said:

According to a Thai agronomist I know, the increased smoke over the last 10-15 years comes from the growth of contract farming of corn for animal feeds. The big agribusinesses create incentives quick monocropping.

http://www.sarakadee.com/blog/oneton/?p=1717

"Maize: The cause of Deforestation, Drought, and Air Pollution," by Wanchai Tantawittayapitak

[cmsally]

Crippling costs of corn