The director for Agriculture and Environment in Torit County of Eastern Equatoria State has called on municipal and county authorities to enforce local orders to combat a widespread menace caused by plastic bags.
Peter Ohide Abahamoi was speaking to Radio Tamazuj as the world marked International Environment Day, saying plastic bags destroy crops and animals and negatively impact human survival.
Every 5th of June, the world commemorates International Environment Day to create awareness of proper management of the environment for both human, plants and animals’ survival.
This year’s theme is “Solutions to plastic pollution”.
“We need meetings to be done at both the municipal and county levels as well as with other stakeholders so that they come with local orders to ensure proper usage of plastic bags or stop [use of plastic bags] completely. There should be proper usage, and people should not throw [plastic bags] anyhow. They should be used and thrown [in proper garbage bins]. In this way, it will be easier to manage the use of plastic bags,” Ohide said.
He added: “Farmers should be aware that plastics, including plastic bottles, cannot be destroyed by cultivation tools like hoes. When plastics are in large quantities deep in the ground, they are difficult to remove. Plastics should be disposed of properly by burning them. I know that plastic bags and water bottles are essential for packaging small items in the markets”.
The state director for Agriculture and Environment has been a victim of the impact of poor disposal of plastic bags. His farm animals have died in the past as a result of eating plastic materials.
“You know the plastics –when an animal eats it with grass, later in the stomach, there will be no digestion and food will not mix well. It will tie food in the stomach of goat or cow and breathing becomes difficult and will not excrete faeces and at last, the animal will die in the process of constipation,” Ohide shared in a testimony.
The director said plastics make farming difficult and the farmer may not harvest any produce in an environment with large contamination of plastic bags.
“Plastics have a negative impact. You may not cultivate well. The penetration may not be deep and will stop from the surface of the soil. As an agriculturalist and I have experienced it myself, if there are plastic bags in your garden, you cannot manage to farm there. I tried from my place and failed. Be it dura, groundnut, sesame or any crop because it reduces the production of individual or group crops in the garden as it destroys produce,” Ohide explained.