Haze to blanket Bangkok as open burning surges

Bangkok will be blanketed by hazardous haze for the next three days thanks to farmers burning sugar cane fields, according to the Centre for Air Pollution Mitigation.

“We expect to see unhealthy levels of PM2.5 across the capital and surrounding provinces for at least three days as farmers burn fields prior to harvesting their crop,” Siwat Pongpaichan, spokesman of the newly established Centre for Air Pollution Mitigation (CAPM), said on Monday.

“Sugar prices are very lucrative at present so farmers are rushing to harvest their crop by burning to save cutting costs,” he added.

According to data from air monitoring stations, PM2.5 levels in three Bangkok districts on Monday exceeded the government’s safe threshold of 50 microgrammes per cubic metre (µg/m³).

The dust level in Thawi Watthana was recorded at 60 µg/m³, along Soi Phetkasem 81 in Nong Khaem district…