"Zero Burn" move launched in Thai farm sector

BANGKOK, July 11 (TNA) - Thailand's public and private sectors have agreed to launch a joint initiative on "Zero Burn" in the domestic farm sector to reduce smog and air pollution. The Thai public and private partners, including the Rice Department, the Office of Cane and Sugar Board, Bank for Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperatives (BAAC) and Siam Kubota Corporation, will soon sign the agreement, under which over 140 million rai of Thai farmlands (2.5 rai = 1 acre) will be first set to become 100 per cent-zero burn areas within three years. The Rice Department stated that each year there are about 27 million tons of paddy piles and about 18 million tons of rice stubbles left in about 70 rai of rice fields nationwide, prompting local farmers to have them burnt and causing smog and air pollution and even related-problems consequently. The Office of Cane and Sugar Board then vowed that measures will be soon implemented, including legal ones, to stop sugar cane burning in Thailand by 2022. BAAC announced that it will, on the other hand, work together with its networks through over 7,900 local sufficiency economy-communities under the "Go Green" initiative to provide information and launch the "Zero Burn" campaign to create proper understanding and awareness against burning among locals, along with implementing its safe food initiative in the communities. The four public and private partners will also jointly organize the Agri Forum 2019 in Muang Thong Thani on the outskirts of Bangkok on July 31 to promote the "Zero Burn" initiative, in which about 1,000 people are expected to participate. (TNA)