The final step of the sugarcane harvest is burning the fields. After the crop is gone a mess of dried and dead stalks is left over. Burning the harvested fields gets rid of the dried stalks making ploughing and sowing the field anew much easier.
"Field burning removes all post-harvest trash left on the soil surface," said Windell Jackson, senior agronomist with the American Sugar Cane League. "Leaving the cut sugar cane leaves to compost on the ground prevents the sun from heating up the soil. Leaving mulch in the field keeps the soil damp and promotes fungus and other plant disease growth — diseases that damage and kill the sugar cane root."
http://www.houmatoday.com/news/20121220/sugar-cane-burning-is-necessary
The burning is controlled. Unlike homeowners burning trash and leaves, the sugarcane workers do not abandon the fire but guide it properly so that the fire does not spread to other fields. However they cannot control the smoke which covers the entire countryside choking the life out of anyone who wants to breathe.
Aside from the nasty pollution the burning is usually safe because it is supervised. But even supervision cannot render this burning completely safe since the fire is licking right up on an electrical tower.
There is nothing safe about this at all. Even if a fence was placed around the tower the potential for danger would not be gone.
At least the cell tower is protected by a wall.
But still the potential for something extremely dangerous to occur has not totally disappeared. That wall is covered in graffiti. Let's take a close up and read what it says.
"If you think this is bad you should see what our government is up to"
As George Takei would say, "Oh my!"
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