PUBLISHED: September 5, 2023, at 13:18
According to the industry’s lasting secretary, sugar burn-off is rising and the air pollutants it causes affects about 44 million people annually for six months.
This makes up two-thirds of Thailand’s people, which is roughly 66 million.
In the 2020 – 2021 crop season, Nattapol Rangsitpol reported on Tuesday that an estimated 17.61 million tonnes of sugarcane, or 26.42 % of all produced, were burned off.
Burned sugarcane reached 25.12 million tonnes in the 2021 – 2022 season, or 27.28 percent of the world’s sugar cane.
According to Mr. Nattapol, the burned-off sugarcane covered a combined area of 3.08 million rai( approximately 4, 928 square kilometers ) in the 2022 – 2023 season, reaching 30.78 million tonnes( 32.78 % of milled sugarCANE ).
According to him, sugarcane burn-off was a significant source of particulate matter that was 2.5 micrometers in diameter( PM2.5 ).
” Sugar burn-off produces extremely high levels of PM2.5, which can stay in the atmosphere for a long time and stretched toward the wind.” According to Mr. Nattapol, it covers the Greater Bangkok, Central Plains, East, and Northeast regions where about 44 million people reside for around six weeks each year.
According to him, the issue is getting worse and is severely harming the health of those who breathe in air using the PM2.5 that is produced by sugar burn-off.
According to Mr. Nattapol, officials may strictly enforce pertinent laws and implement new incentives to encourage farmers to avoid burning-off the waste from their sugarcae crops.