Inle Lake

Inle Lake & The Floating Tomatoes

In the Inle Lake, many of the Tomato farmers use pesticides and fertilizers to help their crops grow. This is resulting in an increase in pollution in the lake as well as their own health. They are not fully aware of the great affect it is having on them and the damage being done to their health, however they have stopped drinking from the lake as well as using the water from it to cook since they are aware that the lake is no longer as clean as it was.
More farmers are becoming more commercialized which is leading to an increase in the use of chemicals within their farming techniques. They perceive it as a positive change, due to the short-term boom in fertility of the algae and their crops. However they are unaware of the long-term effect and the health risks associated.
On top of this, the use of strong pesticides not only affects the local population and workers, but it also affects the people in Burma who purchase and consume the tomatoes later on.
Another main resource for the local people is fish, which they use personally and also to sell. The pesticides have reduced the fish population greatly, which in turn leads to a vicious circle. People will stop fishing for a living since there aren’t enough fish and they move towards tomato farming and end up putting more chemicals into the lake.
Therefore, although their continuing use of pesticides seems to have a positive affect on crop performance, short term, many of the population are not aware of the long-term affects and how it is polluting the lake.

Characteristics:
Factors
Processes
Products
Climate
Building up the beds
Tomato fruits themselves
Seeds
Putting squares on the beds
Tomato sauce
Algae
Planting the seeds
Canned tomatoes
Skills
Harvesting the algae
Tomato juice
Tradition
Maintenance- putting up scaffolding
Sun-dried tomatoes
Market/demand
Pesticides and fertilizers
Passata
Water levels in lake
Harvesting them
Tomato puree
Precipitation
Transporting to