Month: June 2018
A U.N. agency says 11 million people in Africas Sahel region still face severe food insecurity. At the same time, an emergency appeal for 113 million dollars has gone largely unmet.
De Capua report on Sahel food insecurity
The Food and Agriculture Organization says the Sahel has faced food insecurity crises in 2005, 2008 and again in 2012. Those crises, it says, have eroded the capacity of the poor to maintain or restore their livelihoods.
In Dakar, Patrick David, FAOs deputy coordinator for food security analysis for West Africa and the Sahel, said, There is still a lot of people in food insecurity. The people more and more find some difficulty to recover from the past crisis even if there is a good harvest because there have been pretty good harvests in 2012.
David said many people in the Sahel depend on a few cattle and a small piece of land for survival. So, its hard for them to stock up any reserve food or agricultural supplies in the event of drought, conflict or bad harvest.
While before it would take one or two years to recover, now its longer for those people to recover. Its difficult to restock cattle, for example. Its difficult for them to access agricultural credit to have good input[s] and to have fertilizer. And in some places in the Sahel, like in Burkina Faso and Niger, there [are] some dense populated area[s] where there is degradation of land and the loss of soil fertility. That means their agricultural
yield[s] are decreasing year by year, he said.
That compounds the problems they already face as the price for grains, such as sorghum, millet and maize, continues to rise.
David said, The poor and the very poor households, as soon as theyve exhausted their little harvest, totally depend [on] the market. So they have to buy the grain at higher and higher prices. So their purchasing power is decreasing every year.
Insecurity, such as the recent conflict in northern Mali, can also boost prices because agricultural products cannot get to market.
The FAO has appealed for $113 million for its programs in the Sahel. However, its only received less that $19.5 million so far.
The intervention of FAO strengthens the resilience of the affected households. But when the affected households cannot receive the good seeds and the good fertilizer or cannot recapitalize their livestock, they stay very vulnerable and its a problem for the next year. So we definitely need additional support for the farmers and agriculture in order to decrease the impact of the forthcoming crisis, he said.
Building resilience includes improving the storage, processing and transportation of goods as well as livestock food supplements, animal health campaigns and herd restocking. The Food and Agriculture Organization programs also include fixing irrigation systems.
The FAO said it would like these programs to be in place and making a difference during the next growing season which runs from October through April
One day I was given the task to make a report on a certain chemical called H2SO4. I was totally dumbfounded as I had no idea what it is and what I should research about it. In fact, I did not even have an idea how to buy sulfuric acid since I do not use it in my everyday life. Or so I thought.
For starters, I tried to find what this H2SO4 really is. Well, a simple researching in the internet told me that the chemical is commonly known as sulfuric acid. And, as my research grew more intensive, I found out a lot about the acid that made me realize its benefits to some industries.
It is actually used in some industries that help produce some of the basic necessities that we use in our everyday lives. For one, the chemical is used in agriculture to produce fertilizers that can be used in crop production. An example of these fertilizers is phosphate fertilizers. The chemical is also an important ingredient in making detergents and other household cleaning products. It is also used in other industries that make steel, industrial explosives, iron, lead acid batteries and dyes.
However, amidst all of these uses, sulphuric acid is feared for its hazardous effects. At first I also felt worried because of the fact that it is widely produced. However, I found out that the chemical can only become dangerous if proper precautions are not met in its handling, storage and disposal. Yet, sometimes, accidents do happen. So what should be done in case such emergencies occur? To ease my apprehensions, I decided to include in my research the measures that can be done when emergencies involving sulfuric acid occur.
The chemical has three entry points in the body: the eyes, the skin and the respiratory system. Depending on which entry point is affected, the safety mechanisms also vary.
If the chemical gets to the eyes, the patient should flush the eyes with water right away. This should be done continuously within thirty minutes, alternately lifting the lower eyelid and the upper eyelid. Then, after this is done, one should go to a medical professional for the necessary medications.
If the chemical gets in contact with the skin, the most appropriate thing to do would be to immediately take off the clothing that also came into contact with H2SO4. Make sure that while removing the piece of clothing, the patient does not affect other areas to avoid more damage. Then, wash the affected area with mild soap and water continuously for twenty minutes. Afterwards, get medical attention for further treatment.
If the chemical gets inside the body through the respiratory system, get the patient out of the place where he or she has inhaled the acid. Make the patient stay in a place where there is plenty of fresh air. If the patient has stopped breathing, give the patient rescue breathing. A CPR would also be needed if the patient’s heart stops beating. In giving these first aid measures, make sure that you know what you are doing to avoid further complications. If you are successful with your first aid measures, bring the patient to the medical clinic or hospital where he or she could be given professional care. Once the chemical affects the respiratory system, there is possibility for pulmonary edema. However, the symptoms usually become evident hours later. That is why the patient should be monitored for forty-eight hours.
Such measures mentioned above will only be necessary if there have been lapses during the use of sulphuric acid. This should be avoided at all times in order to prevent accidents that may cause the lives of a lot of people.
Overall, H2S04 is a very useful chemical. This I found out in my short encounter with sulfuric acid. However, because of some people’s carelessness in handling the product, it becomes highly dangerous. Let us not make our faults become the reason why the acid becomes notorious than it already is.