23/08/05 PUTRAJAYA, (NSTP) - Four oil palm cultivators in Pahang, Perakand Selangor face a RM500,000 fine, a jail term of not more than fiveyears, or both.And the reason is crystal clear: They were involved in open burning duringthe recent haze.

The four, who include smallholders and plantation owners, will be chargedin court soon, according to Department of Environment director-generalDatuk Rosnani Ibarahim.

Rosnani, however, declined to name the estate owners or the smallholders.She also did not want to say if the four had committed similar offences inthe past.

"We will push for the maximum fine," she promised.

The areas where open burning had taken place included some 80 hectares inPahang, eight hectares in Sungkai, Perak, and about four hectares inSungai Belankang, Selangor.

Rosnani said the department was also investigating 10 smallholdings andplantations for open burning.

On the Malaysia-Indonesia-Singapore joint cloud seeding operation overSumatra yesterday, Rosnani said it was successful because of the presenceof cumulus clouds. This type of cloud is necessary for rain-inducingchemicals to work.

Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia each had an aircraft in the operation.Malaysia was assigned to cover the Rokan Hilir area in Riau.

Asked if the Air Pollutant Index would be issued daily on a permanentbasis, Rosnani said: "Nobody has asked us to stop, so we'll continue torelease it."

She expected Malaysia to remain haze-free as long as the current windpatterns remained and there was heavy rainfall.

She said Indonesian and Malaysian environment officials were studying ashift in policy from promoting zero-burning to other alternatives for poorfarmers who still find that using fire was the cheapest way to clear theirland.

Zero-burning is now implemented by major oil palm plantations, but not bysmallholders and farmers who continue to light fires year after year witheach new farming season.

"They are the root of the problem," said Rosnani.

"They cannot afford machines or other methods. We have to findalternatives for them."

Smallholders and farmers are considered the main culprits of the hazebecause they allegedly start 70 per cent of the fires.

The zero-burning policy was developed primarily for plantations, which uptill the 1997 haze crisis, were also using the slash-and-burn method toclear land.

"They were burning thousands of hectares. But after they adoptedzero-burning, we realised a new problem — that plantation land wasinterspersed with small holdings and farmers’ lands," Rosnani said today.

It will take time to develop viable alternatives for poor farmers butRosnani said her Indonesian counterpart was committed to findingsolutions.

They will also consult the panel of experts on haze, endorsed recently bythe Asean meeting of senior environmental officials held in Penang.