If there is just one thing that both Delhi and the Amazon rainforest have in common, it is that both of them suffer from the consequences of slash-and-burn farming.
Slash-and-burn agriculture, also known as fallow farming, is a technique of usually poorer farmers who cut trees to their stumps, wait for the wood to dry, and then set ablaze large tracts of forest to create arable land. The resultant soil is nutrient-rich from the added carbon. The catch is that the fires contribute to air pollution, and the soil ends up being less secure from erosion.
Every year, between October and November, Delhi briefly becomes the most polluted city on earth as farmers in neighbouring Patiala set ablaze the residue stubble and paddy on their fields, resulting in clouds of smoke that can set concentrations of PM10 at four-digit levels.
In Brazil, where the Amazon is facing an unprecedented spate in forest fires, these farmers operate with the unspoken blessing of President Jair Bolsonaro, under whose administration fines for environmental crimes (which include crop burning) have dropped by 29.4 per cent according to a report by the BBC.
While India has made progress on reducing this practice in 2019, with paddy-residue burning going down by 41 per cent overall in Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and the Delhi-NCR region, Brazil has not moved on environmental protection under Bolsonaro, with the president slashing the budget of the government’s environmental protection agencies and shutting down dozens of centres of the Brazilian Institute of Environment and Renewable Natural Resources (IBAMA) that are tasked with anti-deforestation work. All this, in the name of increasing the commercial utilisation of the country’s natural resources, one of Bolsonaro’s populist promises.
This has emboldened farmers to burn crops instead of exploring alternative techniques. A report by local Brazilian newspaper Folha De S.Paolo cited locals saying that they planned the ‘day of fire’ as a sign to Bolsonaro that their work was being done. While the fires still raged, Bolsonaro refused to pinpoint it on the country's farmers, instead blaming NGOs for the deed.
A 2004 report by NASA pointed out how slash-and-burn agriculture in the region was having a cascading effect, raising the likelihood of dry fires each year and destroying large chunks of the ecosystem in the process.
The fires, combined with ecological change and seasonal effects like El Nino, raise the likelihood of drought, which in turn creates conditions rife for fire. But 2019’s fires are entirely man made, according to the latest NASA report on the subject.
The fire, this year, traces its path along major roads, suggesting land clearing as the reason behind them. Worse, the fires this year are more intense than those of previous years.
After international pressure grew for Bolsonaro to take action, with French President Emmanuel Macron suggesting that he would oppose a trade deal between the South American countries and the EU, Bolsonaro has finally deployed the military to tackle the fires. The president was none too happy about this, however, as he dubbed what he sees as Macron’s interference as a sign of “colonialist mentality”.
At the G7 summit, world leaders promised to help the countries affected by the fires — which now include Bolivia, Columbia, Ecuador, French Guiana, Guyana, Peru, Suriname and Venezuela.
These nations have, to some extent, tackled crop burning by exploring alternative cropping solutions. No-till agriculture has been increasing, with the Climate and Clean Air Coalition (CCAC) estimating in 2015 that 80 per cent of all crops in MERCOSUR (Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay) were grown with this method.
This changed to some extent with Bolsonaro’s rise to power. An interview with local farmers by Rolling Stone revealed that many felt a sense of disenfranchisement from the environmental measures that had earlier taken away from their livelihoods. The problem is not just one of ecology but also of inequality.
A 2005 study demonstrated multiple techniques that could serve as alternatives to crop-burning. The use of mechanised harvesting was among them. Incidentally, the Indian government attributed the reduction of crop burning in 2019 to its Centrally-funded scheme of ‘Promotion of Agricultural Mechanisation for In-Situ Management of Crop Residue in the state of Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and the National Capital Territory of Delhi’.
There are caveats to India's approach. A report by Down to Earth found that farmers struggled to afford all the equipment necessitated to mechanise the process, often taking large loans to be able to obtain them. Chief Minister Amarinder Singh had written to the government in September of 2018, asking for additional compensation for farmers who took up crop residue management, to the tune of Rs 100 per quintal, as farmers were facing an additional crop burden of Rs 2,500 to Rs 3,000 per acre.
Whether crop burning has truly declined in India will become evident in October, when the month of fires begin. For the Amazon, the consequences of the ‘days of fires’ will be felt long after the year is done.