The start of August marks the season for the rice harvest in Egypt, which has been a source of environmental problems for years.

The problems start when farmers harvest the rice, thresh it, and then keep the resulting rice straw. Some farmers burn the straw, causing serious environmental problems due to the resultant black clouds that can fill the sky across the country, exposing people to the hazards of respiratory diseases and lung cancer.

The government has long been looking for solutions to end this environmental hazard. It has now launched “No to Burning Rice”, a presidential campaign which is part and parcel of the “Prepare for Green” initiative that aims to spread public awareness about environmental issues.

The harvest season ends in November, and farmers are committed to planting rice in specific areas designated by Ministerial Decree 543/2023. Rice is generally cultivated in the governorates of Alexandria, Beheira, Gharbiya, Kafr Al-Sheikh, Daqahliya, Damietta, Sharqiya, Ismailia, and Port Said on a total area of 724,200 acres.

The Kafr Al-Sheikh governorate is the second most important rice-producing area, containing 341,000 acres of land that yields about 40 per cent of the overall rice crop planted in Egypt of about 1,300,000 tons.

Once the harvest season starts in all the rice-producing governorates, black clouds can cover rice-harvesting areas across the country as a result of farmers burning waste rice straw. The smoke can cause lung and chest issues, and it can have a particularly hazardous impact on children and pregnant women.  

The Ministry of Environment has made repeated calls for farmers to stop burning rice straw. People in Beheira have also complained to Governor Jacqueline Azar and the Environment Department in the governorate saying that the smoke emitted by rice straw burning has affected their health and made it difficult for them to breathe.

Mohamed Sultan, a resident of Rahmaniya in Beheira, told Al-Ahram Weekly that “unfortunately some farmers dispose of the remnants of the rice harvest by burning it, which makes us unable to live or sleep in a healthy environment.”

“We are forced to inhale smoke all day. My children and I are allergic, and we are suffering from lung issues as a result, particularly during this time of the year. This hazard occurs every year despite hundreds of complaints made by local residents that all seem to fall on deaf ears. Officials are turning a blind eye to farmers burning straw oblivious of the fact that it is causing us health issues.”

Younis Abdel-Salam, a teacher from Beheira, said that “many people in our neighbourhood have been suffering from chest and respiratory diseases, and some have even got lung cancer, due to air pollution caused by rice straw burning.”

 “We must combat such air pollutants in every way since they are detrimental to our pure rural environment. In the past, the countryside was a haven for rehabilitation, but now it has become a graveyard for healthy people.”

Abdel-Salam called on officials to take a firm stance towards farmers who “burn rice straw and poison people due to environmental pollution.”

Various officials have given statements about government measures to combat the black clouds and curb their hazards.

Azar told a recent press conference that the Environment Department in Beheira had launched a campaign to address the problem. It had resulted in legal measures against violating farmers.

According to Azar, Beheira has taken a set of measures to address the phenomenon. They include periodic monitoring using modern monitoring devices, equipping cars with GPS devices to locate violations, using satellite images to spot areas where rice straw is burnt, using monitoring stations to measure pollutants, and scanning reports issued by the Meteorological Authority.

The governor stressed that the law was being strictly applied, and that penalties were being imposed on violators together with campaigns to increase awareness of how to benefit from the same rice straw instead of burning it.

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EGAL ACTIONS: According to Article 20 of the Waste Management and Regulation Law 202/2020, a fine of no less than LE50,000 and a maximum of LE1 million and/or a year in prison can be imposed on violators.

“We have formed committees from the Egyptian Environmental Affairs Agency and local units at Beheira governorate to prevent the open burning of agricultural residues from rice straw, as well as corn firewood and others,” said Ali Doma, head of the regional branch of the Egyptian Environmental Affairs Agency in Beheira.

“We have also coordinated with the Ministry of Islamic Endowments in Beheira to spread awareness through Friday sermons.”

Doma said that the governorate provides farmers with the necessary agricultural machinery for compacting and transporting agricultural waste. He said that the need to educate farmers about the health and economic hazards of burning rice straw and the economic benefits of using it as fodder for livestock as well as in the production of wooden panels was being emphasised.

The Badco Wood Factory has already been built in the governorate and started recycling rice straw for the first time this year.

Many farmers have responded positively to the government initiatives. Hassanein Al-Basha, a farmer in Beheira, maintained that “some farmers are aware of the danger of burning rice straw and agricultural residues.”

He participates in educating farmers about the proper use of agricultural waste, especially recycling rice straw and using it as fodder for livestock and as fertiliser for agricultural land since it is rich in nutrients.

Al-Basha said that he and a group of other farmers collect the rice straw during the harvest season and deliver it to village collection centres via contractors and receive money in return.

“We now make money from rice straw instead of burning it and polluting the air,” Al-Basha said. “We must be aware of what benefits and what harms us.”

Doctors and environmentalists alike have warned of the dangers of the black clouds emitted by the burning of rice straw during the harvest season.

“Smoke emissions result in many health problems, most prominently respiratory issues and asthma,” said Mohamed Abdel-Azim, a professor of chest and respiratory diseases at Alexandria University.

“They also cause lung cancer, disrupt the blood circulation, and may lead to an incomplete growth of the fetus in pregnant women exposed to carbon monoxide emissions during the burning process.”

“The emissions are a seemingly endless disaster,” he added.

Carbon monoxide is a “silent killer” because it disrupts the work of the blood in carrying oxygen, negatively affecting the performance of the whole body. Nitrogen oxide emissions from burning straw increase allergies, asthma, and respiratory infections, particularly among children, which could ultimately affect the function of their lungs.

Smoke emissions, according to Abdel-Azim, tend to rest in the airways leading to the lungs, causing irritation and the sensitivity of the mucous membranes. The emissions may also be loaded with toxins and carcinogens that may ultimately lead to death.

The Children’s Cancer Hospital has recently published a report on its website warning of the toxic impacts of the black clouds. The report warns that carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, and other pollutants like PCDDs and PCDFs (dioxins and furans), are among the hazardous byproducts of burning rice straw.

Dioxin is a carcinogen which spreads in the atmosphere and accumulates in agricultural land affecting crops and drinking water and posing additional health risks.

The report says that the black clouds make people five times more prone to chest diseases, allergies, and sore throats and is thought to cause the death of organisms that make the soil more fertile. Meanwhile, they also decrease the percentage of oxygen in the soil, affecting crops, and they may also lead to a higher number of highway accidents due to blurry vision.

The black clouds, the report concluded, probably cost the country more than LE17 billion overall, being the value of losses in the tourist sector due to air pollution.

Magdi Allam, an advisor to the World Climate Programme and secretary of the Union of Arab Environmental Experts, told a press conference that dealing with the air pollution resulting from burning rice straw could be achieved by converting the straw into an asset.

This “could be achieved by recycling rather than burning rice straw, which would generate income for farmers and also create jobs that would make it even more sustainable,” he added.

Egypt depends on the rice crop as one of its main food staples, and recycled rice straw could be instrumental in many other industries including the production of biomass and the generation of biogas, which could generate income for farmers.

Recycling rice straw, Allam said, “could also reduce harmful emissions, particularly carbon and sulphur, which have been found to be partly responsible for global warming.”

“Combating the open burning of waste is one of the main measures that can be taken to reduce global warming and the constant rise in the Earth’s temperature,” Allam elaborated. “Otherwise, the Earth’s temperature will continue to rise, destroying at least 45 per cent of the ecosystem.”

The consensus among experts is that all types of burning, including of fossil fuels, have been a prime reason behind the rise of the Earth’s temperature since the Industrial Revolution. Experts say that in some parts of the world the seasons of autumn and spring have almost disappeared due to drastic changes in temperature.

For Allam, a green economy could be the answer to global warming issues since it means having “a pollution-free environment.” He said that the straw of rice and sugar cane could generate almost the same income as generated by planting the crops themselves.

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REPARE FOR GREEN: In October 2020, President Abdel-Fattah Al-Sisi launched an initiative to spread environmental awareness called “Prepare for Green”.

The campaign urges citizens to actively participate in preserving the environment and combating climate change. It attempts to address the phenomena that cause pollution to the environment and affect the climate.

In the same vein, the Ministry of Environment launched another campaign in September 2024 called “Prepare for Green.” This campaign aims at stopping the burning of rice straw, reducing the risk of black clouds and using the rice straw to make paper, wood, and fodder.

“Be part of the solution and protect your health and the health of your family” is the motto of the “Prepare for Green” campaign.

The campaign has posted awareness videos on its Facebook page urging farmers to collect rice straw, and instead of burning it to hand it over to the nearest contractor to recycle it and turn it into fodder and/or fertilisers.

“By doing so, you have maintained your livelihood and the health of your family. Start with yourself and do not burn rice straw and help to maintain your environment, land, and health,” say the brochures of the campaign.

Agricultural engineer Alaa Allam notes that “recycling straw is an important investment that generates good incomes for farmers and provides job opportunities for young people.”

“Instead of burning straw and harming the environment, it is converted into industrial organic fertilisers, producing biogas and energy,” Allam said. “Besides, rice straw is also used as an unconventional feed for livestock. By adding urea and ammonia, and germinating barley seeds on rice straw, the straw can be turned into green and dry fodder for livestock. It can also be pressed and sold to paper and brick factories.”

Allam added that such ideas implemented in collaboration with the ministries of agriculture and environment together with farmers have already generated new jobs in many rice-producing areas, curbing unemployment.

According to figures produced by the Ministry of Agriculture, the percentage of what has been harvested up until 7 October in rice-producing areas has exceeded 69 per cent of the total planted area in six governorates, namely Daqahliya, Kafr Al-Sheikh, Beheira, Sharqiya, Gharbiya, and Qalioubiya.

The ministry stated that the total amount of rice straw compacted in these governorates is about 970,000 tons and about 415,000 have been shredded. Daqahliya governorate was one of the leading areas in rice straw collection, it said.

Alaa Azzouz of the Ministry of Agriculture stressed the importance and benefits of the straw-collection system and how it helps farmers to make a living.

“Farmers either get a financial return by collecting the straw or from recycling it and turning it into organic fertilisers that improve the soil,” Azzouz said. “This is in addition to the fact that it has helped raise awareness of the dangers of the black clouds resulting from burning rice straw.”

Azzouz pointed out that so far more than 1,500 information sessions have been held in the six rice-producing governorates. “More than 6,300 tons of organic fertilisers have been produced via rice straw recycling in these governorates,” he added.

Official reports issued by the Ministry of Agriculture indicate that collecting and recycling rice straw have boosted the economy in rice-producing governorates, providing jobs for young people in these areas.

Alaa Bakhit, an agricultural engineer in Beheira, noted that “the rice-straw recycling system has changed the negative perceptions of agricultural waste as a source of pollutants that threaten people’s lives and the environment into a source of wealth in agriculture, industry, and energy.”

“Recycling rice straw has also cut unemployment rates in rural areas where rice is cultivated by about 70 per cent,” he concluded.

* A version of this article appears in print in the 14 November, 2024 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly