By Nourhan Magdi, The Cairo Post A dark, thick smog has begun to creep into the Cairo skies, and a number of other governorates are reporting dangerous levels of air pollution and respiratory diseases. The cloud is witnessed every year in October and November, caused by farmers burning leftover straw from the rice harvest that gives off plumes of heavy smoke. To limit the dangers this year, the Ministry of Environment formed a central operation room to prevent the unregulated straw burning and agricultural waste. The Black Cloud The Ministry of Irrigation determines the number of acres of rice to be cultivated each year, in order to save water and limit burning process of excess straw. Many farmers across the country, however, exceed the limit, resulting in higher percentage of rice straw left to be burnt. This year, Minister of Environment Khaled Fahmy stated cultivated areas of rice grew by over 100 percent. Consequently, the leftover rice straw that should have been collected and recycled exceeded government capacity to manage, and authorities announced at the end of August 2014 they were unable to collect all of it. “Farmers, with a…
