BANGKOK, THAILAND – Solving transboundary air pollution in Thailand, as well as in the Mekong region, needs improved transparency in food supply chains, with some goods linked to burning agricultural fields that result in a haze that affects people’s health. Since early this year, the upper and central parts of Thailand have been engulfed in a hazardous haze that has caused widespread illnesses. Thailand’s Public Health Ministry reported in March that more than 1.73 million people across the country had suffered air pollution-related diseases in the first two months of this year. More concerning is the fact that almost 200,000 people were hospitalized due to respiratory problems in the first week of March alone. In Chiang Mai, a touristic city in northern Thailand, more than 12,600 patients sought treatment for respiratory problems at a local hospital between January and March. The sources of air pollution are varied, ranging from fossil fuel combustion in vehicles and forest fires to dust from construction sites. However, agricultural burning is seen as the prime culprit as NASA’s satellite images show fire hotspots across the Mekong region – consisting of Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam. The hotspot numbers were intense in the northern parts of Laos, Myanmar and Thailand, where farmers burn off agricultural residue, especially in sugarcane and maize plantations, during the harvesting season. Burning is a common and low-cost practice used for preparing the land for the next cultivation. Many people have suggested the Thai government provide incentives, including access to low-interest loans and subsidies for purchasing machinery, to discourage farmers from burning off their fields. But this issue on the ground is far more complex and may not be solved with simple financial incentives. Burning has become the only choice for many impoverished farmers who supply crops to Thailand’s growing food industry. Without a cash flow and with a lack of market access, many farmers commit to agricultural companies or middlemen collecting and delivering crops for companies. The farmers commit to produce certain amounts of crops through pervasive contract farming. In exchange, the farmers receive cash in advance or the means of production, including fertilizers, seeds or know-how. If their production cannot reach the targeted amount, or if crop prices fall by the time they harvest, they may end up owing money to those providing them with the means of production. Therefore, many poor farmers decide to burn agricultural residue to save costs and take a shortcut to the next round of cultivation. Another factor that drives the agricultural burning practice is the drastic growth in food demand that results in bilateral agreements and regional frameworks that promote economic crop trade in the Mekong region. One such framework is the Ayeyawady-Chao Phraya-Mekong Economic Cooperation Strategy (ACMEC), and one of its objectives is to promote agricultural cooperation among the five Mekong countries through contract farming. Adopted in 2003, ACMEC allows the Thai government to import crops from neighboring countries through provincial offices at the borders which are exempt from import tariffs, without going through a complicated process and documentation at the national level. But that also results in the spread of contract farming, especially in Laos and Myanmar, even after the tariff exemption was revoked in 2009. In 2013, during the fifth ACMEC meeting in the Lao capital Vientiane, Thailand proposed the promotion of investment in economic crops through contract farming cooperation with ACMEC countries, particularly crops with high domestic demand, such as soybeans and maize. Thailand, the home of several powerful agribusinesses, and Laos signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on cooperation in the promotion of the Contract Farming Scheme. The five Mekong countries also adopted the Nay Pyi Taw Declaration of the sixth ACMEC meeting in 2015, with the 2016-2018 action plan that included the encouragement of bilateral and multilateral contract farming as “an efficient mechanism to promote market stability and food security” in ACMEC countries. Following the promotion of contract farming, a 2012 study by a Thai researcher indicated that Thai food companies invested in 512,000 hectares of maize farming in neighboring countries – 9% in Laos, 16% in Cambodia, 22% in Myanmar and 53% in Vietnam. Very few studies have traced the companies’ investments in recent years. Maize is the main ingredient for animal food used to feed livestock, which produces meat for human consumption. The Bureau of Agricultural Economic Research estimated that Thailand needs approximately eight million tons of maize per year.