CAIRO – More than 4,000 young people have launched an online campaign to dispel the black smoke rising in the air in Cairo and neighbouring governorates when rice-growers burn their rice straw in autumn. According to the chief online 'fire-fighter', the environmentally friendly initiative was inspired by the Egyptian revolution of January 25, which toppled president Hosni Mubarak. Mohamed el-Koshty, who is an engineer, condemned the ex-president for his alleged lukewarm enthusiasm to proposals to exploit the country's agricultural potential and encourage importers of crops to grow their own. It was in March when el-Koshty's Facebook page on the future of agriculture in Egypt attracted a huge number of enthusiasts within a very short time. El-Koshty was pretty sure that his campaign would bear fruit at the end of the day, when his Facebook page received encouraging messages from speech and hearing impaired campaigners, who wished to take part in saving Egypt's agriculture. After discussing woes of Egypt's agriculture and its future, the environmental lobbyists in the new Facebook community decided to give priority to the seasonal event of burning the dry rice stalks in the Delta governorate after the rice had been harvested. After extensive discussions and exchange of information, the volunteers discovered that the area of feddans (acres) on which rice was grown this year had increased from 1.1 million to 2.5 million feddans. El-Koshty explained: “Taking into consideration the fact that one feddan on which rice was grown produces about two million of stalks should mean that we shall have more than five tonnes of rice stalks this year.” He warned that the Delta villages would witness a huge orgy of burning orgy of rice stalks very soon unless prompt measures were made to make use of these stalks economically, for example as straw for agricultural, industrial and other purposes. El-Koshty estimated that burning of rice stalks was responsible for 43 per cent of autumnal air pollution in Cairo. “Instead of burning the crop's stalks, we could use them more wisely and profitably to provide jobs for the nation's young people.” Escorting his team, el-Koshty had an extended meeting with the Minister of Environment and his experts. The minister expressed his appreciation of the young people's plan to recycle rice-stalks by organising field visits to factories, which could be interested. El-Koshty's team has also received encouraging signals from rice growers after they were reassured that they would be able to conveniently get rid of the dried stalks conveniently, including in the most distant fields. Local environmentalists led by the beleaguered ministry of environment remain intent on avoiding an outraged response from citizens in different areas in Cairo, who are reputed to suffer from serious respiratory diseases as a result of inhaling the irritant smoke caused by the burning of rice stalks. Environmental experts, who are monitoring these citizens' grievances, also commented that smoke emitted by cement factories and foundries in the 14-million-people-plus capital had increased air pollution in Cairo beyond international limits and standards.
