Burning sugarcane fields blamed for Bangkok smog

Burning sugarcane fields blamed for Bangkok smog

Rescue workers extinguish flames from a car that crashed into another vehicle amid dense smoke from burning sugarcane fields in Chanthaburi province last year. An activist has blamed the burning for thick smog in greater Bangkok. (File photo)
Rescue workers extinguish flames from a car that crashed into another vehicle amid dense smoke from burning sugarcane fields in Chanthaburi province last year. An activist has blamed the burning for thick smog in greater Bangkok. (File photo)

The smog currently blanketing greater Bangkok comes from farmers burning sugarcane fields as a cheap way to make harvesting easier, an activist said on Monday.

Srisuwan Janya, president of the Stop Global Warming Association, said that many people were wrongfully fingering engine emissions, construction, and the burning of garbage and grass.  

"Smog doesn't only happen in greater Bangkok but also other provinces in the Central Plains, the West and the East where sugarcane plantations are widespread and the sugarcane milling season has started," he said.

"Some farmers just burn sugarcane fields for convenient harvesting and transport."

Mr Srisuwan urged the government and the associations of sugarcane farmers and sugar producers to ban sugarcane harvested by burning fields. He planned to gather support from affected parties for a complaint he is filing with the Administrative Court.

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