Amany Abdel-Moneim visits the Nile Delta Though burning rice chaff is now legally punishable by an LE10,000 fine, the practice continues -- a result, it is argued, of farmers having no other means of disposing of tenacious agricultural refuse. Coupled with Cairo's already high levels of air pollution, chaff fumes cause the notorious annual black cloud, however; and to protect the city, along with the entire northern half of the Nile Valley, the Ministry of State for Environmental Affairs has adopted a long-term solution, now implemented in Al-Sharqiya: the conversion of chaff into fertiliser. The man in charge of Al-Khatara Factory, the Delta's most successful project to date, agricultural engineer Ibrahim Abdel-Gayed, is particularly pleased with the endeavour: "This LE25 million open-air plant, occupying 60,000 feddans, is the first of its kind in Egypt, and it has the capacity to produce 160,000 tonnes of compost out of 300,000 tonnes of chaff annually. It is very well equipped, with labs to analyse solid compost as well as the latest machinery. It's a simple process: chaff is ground, then arranged in rows. Animal waste is added, then mixed with water every other day -- to keep it moist. Exactly 60 days later the compost is ready for packing." Such initiatives are crucial to solving the black cloud problem, according to the experts. One Meteorological Authority official who spoke on condition of anonymity said this October saw up to 10 hours of "still air" per day: "Most of the time the wind blows pollutants away from the city. The trouble is when weather conditions are such that, rather than heading up in the evening, the pollution starts heading down. This tends to happen when conditions are unstable, and with the northern autumn winds carrying pollutants into the city, you get the black cloud." And the black cloud is not just unpleasant -- it is terribly hazardous. Abdel-Hamid Moussa, chest physician, explains that the carbon monoxide and particulates emitted by chaff fires will damage a perfectly healthy respiratory system in the long run depending on the intensity and extent of exposure to smog; the black cloud is particularly harmful to people who suffer from asthma and other respiratory diseases. Yet the government complains that in spite of efforts to train farmers to dispose of rice waste in more an environmentally friendly manner, only a small proportion of them have switched to the newly introduced systems, recycling at least a third of their chaff into organic fertilisers. In Al-Sharqiya, some 180,000 feddans of rice are harvested in October and November, and for farmers, burning the rice chaff has always been the easiest way to dispose of the waste in time for the winter planting season. Ahmed Hassan, a farmer form Al-Sharqiya, explains, "burning is the traditional way of getting rid of waste, and it costs us nothing." It has positive effects, besides, he believes, making the land more fertile, eliminating pests and raising productivity. Awadein Fathallah, another farmer from the area, agrees: "Some farmers have no choice but to burn their agricultural refuse as the government has only provided a small number of [compost making] presses, enough for less than a third of the farmers in Al-Sharqiya." Nor can the importance of speed be overestimated: "If waste accumulates, the land will become a breeding ground for rats and snakes, and the build-up will occupy valuable space on which the next crop can be grown." And it is far from difficult to circumvent the law, he goes on to explain: it is next to impossible to be caught if you burn the chaff late at night. According to Yehia Abdel-Qader, head of the Central Department of Media and Environmental Awareness, 294 new presses are currently being distributed. Compost is not the only product, he adds: the chaff can be used to make paper, processed wood and animal fodder. "The ministry is also encouraging new graduates to undertake recycling projects," he went on. "We have to show them how to gain financially from a nationally beneficial scheme." And it is in this context that the ministry is cooperating with the National Social Fund and various NGOs to make presses affordable to the young in addition to providing them with the needed technical assistance. The young also take priority in the purchase of compressed chaff at the highest price available: LE80 per tonne. Abdel-Gayed agrees that Al-Khatara Factory has made a broad-ranging difference, providing 3,000 work opportunities in related services as well as 150 in the factory itself. According to Haj Said Shalabi, a supplier who has a contract to supply the factory with 300,000 tonnes of rice chaff this year, this is a positive step towards cleaning our air on the part of the government: "It's our turn now to cooperate, providing not only the raw material but work opportunities as well."
