🔶 Fire in the rice paddy: a recurring story repeated every year after the rice harvest

Every year, when the rice harvesting season ends, in some paddy fields in northern Iran, crop residues straw are burned. An old method for quickly clearing the land and preparing it for the next crop—still in many regions.

But what is seen in the few hours of smoke and flames is only part of the story. In addition to releasing smoke and particulate matter into the air, the fire damages the soil’s surface layers and destroys some of its valuable organic matter—materials that play an important role in maintaining soil fertility, moisture, and health.

But the consequences of these fires are not limited to agricultural lands. Paddy fields are habitats for various species of insects, amphibians, reptiles, birds, and other animals—creatures that form part of the natural cycle of this ecosystem and, every year, lose part of their habitat by burning field residues.

This old method may be, for many, a quick and low-cost solution; but environmental experts say that its real cost is paid by the soil, the air, and wildlife—costs that are less visible.