Georgia: Agriculture Ministry approves bill for imposing severe penalties on burning grain husks on land

Tbilisi: The Environment and Agriculture Ministry of Georgia has approved a bill, which enstates severe penalties for burning grain husks on land . The expected result of the changes is to eliminate fire traps and create a deterrent effect on agricultural goods after harvest. There is no such direct violation and appropriate sanction in the legislation today.

According to the draft law, an administrative fine for setting fire to grain plants (including their gutter) on the land – 1,000 GEL per hectare for individuals, and 2000 GEL for legal entities. These sanctions will lead to fines for the owner of the land, owner of the natural person or legal person.

“The  Environment and Agriculture Ministry  has had a number of important initiatives in terms of environmental protection during the recent period. Continuing this process for atmospheric air quality as well as controlling emissions from industrial and automotive.

The issue, which the government discussed is one of the challenges we observe every fall, mainly in Kakheti region. It is a sad practice when farmers burn agricultural waste, causing huge damage to soil and can face very big challenges in terms of fire outbreak.

Till now, Georgia had no action mechanism against this and today, the government has approved the draft of amendments to the Administrative Offence Code to be submitted to Parliament,” Otar Shamugia said.

As current practice has shown, recently there are frequent cases when the owners of agricultural land, after harvest, burn the remaining turf on the land, which causes great damage to both the soil and the environment, and at the same time, this action causes great damage to the soil and environment.

There is also a high probability of fire spreading to nearby plots, fields, forests or settlements. It is intended that there should be a strict administrative penalty for such acts.