Ministry of Environment prepares to launch measures to
confront the recurring annual phenomenon known as “Black Clouds,” resulting
from the illegal burning of agricultural leftovers, especially rice straw.
The ministry’s plan to control air pollution depends on four pillars, including collecting and recycling rice straw in coordination with Ministry of Agriculture, where equipment for chopping, pressing as well as tractors were made available at subsidized prices to be used by farmers and youths.
"The ministry aims to collect between 500 to 1,000 tons of rice straw this season," said Abdel Wahid, the head of Crisis and Disaster Management department at the Ministry of Environment, Abdel Wahid added that there is a huge turnout on opening sites to collect rice straw this year, where the ministry received 500 requests thus far.
Several controls were set for rice straw collection, in order to ensure no environmental problem occurs. For instance, the site should be close to a water surface, far from residential areas and electricity transmission plants, and a series of campaigns to raise farmers’ awareness about the importance of the process should be launched.
The ministry further continues to inspect industrial facilities polluting the environment in a bid to reduce the emissions.
Source: Egypt Today
