Ministry of Environmental Protection and Agriculture of Georgia Ministry of Environmental Protection and Agriculture of Georgia

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Penalties will be imposed to end the open-burning practices for agricultural crop residues.

The Government of Georgia has approved the draft law of the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Agriculture on imposing a strict penalty on persons who use open burning practices to control their agricultural crop residues. 

The mentioned amendments to the draft law aim to achieve a deterrent effect regarding the elimination of harmful practices - setting fire to cultivated fields after harvesting. Currently, there is no clearly defined offense for this type of action and related sanction in the legislation.

" In recent years, the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Agriculture has undertaken several, significant environmental protection measures and initiatives. We continue making efforts towards improving ambient air quality and controlling greenhouse gas emissions from the industrial sector and vehicles.

The mentioned issue is one of the challenges we encounter every autumn, particularly in the Kakheti region. Moreover, burning agricultural land fields is a harmful practice that causes significant soil damage, and we may face critical challenges due to the spread of fire.
We have not had an effective method to combat the mentioned problem so far, although today, the Government has approved the amendments to the Code of Administrative Offenses, which will be submitted to the Parliament," said Mr. Otar Shamugia.

It should be mentioned that current farming practices indicate frequent cases when the owners of agricultural fields set fire to cultivated fields to clear stubble, weeds, and waste after harvesting, thus, causing tremendous damage to the soil and the environment.

Furthermore, there is a high risk of the fire spreading to surrounding plots, fields, forests, or settlements. A strict administrative penalty with a deterrent effect is recommended for this type of action.

The proposed law establishes an administrative penalty of GEL 1,000 per hectare for natural persons and 2,000 GEL for legal entities for burning grain plants (including their crop residues) on their plots of land.

The mentioned sanctions will result in monetary fines for the owner of the plot of land, the natural person, or the legal entity.