Farmers have been banned from burning waste crops in Thailand amid worsening air pollution.

The move came after the Climate Change Data Centre in Chiang Mai province blamed the burning of sugar cane husks to clear the land for increasing air pollution.

Setting fire to fields containing cast swathes of sugar cane husks is cheaper than removing them by hand - but the smoke adds PM2.5 particles to a toxic cloud of smog choking the country.

Footage taken this morning (Jan 14) shows farmers continuing to set fire to fields. Planes from the city's airport were seen taking off through the haze.

The Chiang Mai provincial governor Charoenrit Sanguansat issued a preventing measure on Sunday (Jan 12 ) morning which will come into force in April.

The measure will ban all farmers from burning crops for the next four months aiming to decrease the pollution and prevent the forest fire.

The provincial governor said that the farmers who flout the ban could face up to three months in prison. He said: "We have banned all burning during this period.

"The people who really need to burn must ask permission from the authorities and if the fire has spread they will be charged and could face three months imprison and fined 25,000 THB (635 GBP)."