Thailand deploys rainmaking planes to battle drought and pollution. (Photo: bangkokpost.com)Bangkok (VNA) – The Thai governmentplans to deploy 30 aircraft nationwide for cloud-seeding operations to induceartificial rain to battle air pollution and ease dry weather conditions in themain crop-growing areas.
The annual royal rainmaking programme began on February 29, with seven centres set up across the country tocoordinate efforts in all the 77 provinces for operations in March and April.
This year’s operations will rely on 24 aircrafts from theDepartment of Royal Rainmaking and Agricultural Aviation and six jets from theRoyal Thai Air Force.
Agriculture Minister Thamanat Prompow said that rainmaking isnecessary to ease the impact of climate change on the agricultural sector andprevent hailstorms and forest fires in some regions of the country. The artificial rain will alsoease persistent pollution problems such as smog and unhealthy levels of fineparticulate matter known as PM2.5.
Accordingto the Meteorological Department, this year's summerseason officially began on February 21 and will last until mid-May with thetemperature forecast to rise as high as 44.5C in some areas.
A combination of humidity, wind and other factors last yearpushed the heat index to a record ofover 50C in parts of the country, pushingelectricity demand to the highest level ever.
Bangkok, Chiang Mai and other cities have grappled with poorair quality in recent years, with pollution tending to get worse in the dryseason starting around December due largely to agricultural burning, forest fires in neighbouring countries, andvehicular emissions./.
