CAIRO: Religious authorities have issued a religious edict, or fatwa, banning farmers from burning rice stubble, an annual practice that is partly responsible for the black cloud of pollution over Cairo. Dar Al-Ifta, or the House of the Fatwa, which is connected to the country s top religious adviser the Grand Mufti, issued the ruling forbidding the practice that is becoming increasingly widespread after each season s harvest. The Quran forbids such acts which are considered a social nuisance, said the fatwa, which also called on the authorities to ensure the waste is eliminated in a safe way. Farmers in the fertile Nile Delta burn around three million tons of rice stubble every year in order to enrich the soil for the next harvest. The acrid smoke mixes with pollution from Cairo s 16 million inhabitants to create a choking cloud that increases cases of pulmonary sickness. An expert at Cairo University said that pollution levels in the capital are three times higher than the official limit, and 10 times the limit set down by the World Health Organization. Government-backed projects are currently under way to recycle the rice waste into fertilizer.
