Africa-Press – Botswana. The Minister of Mineral Resources, Oil and Gas (Mirempet), Diamantino Azevedo, said today that the country will start producing, in the medium term, fertilizers to meet its needs, from its mineral resources, including hydrocarbons.
The government official made these statements on the sidelines of the “workshop on the usefulness of agro-minerals”, stressing that they have been working, in this sense, together with the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry (Minagrif) so that this purpose is achieved.
He reinforced his statements by stating that the country has the geological potential to invest in agrominerals, including phosphate, limestone potassium and gypsum for the production of fertilizers.
He also highlighted, among agro-minerals, ammonium and urea that can be obtained through gas or from green hydrogen.
According to Diamantino Azevedo, judging by its soil and arable land, Angola can also create more jobs, which guarantee sustainable development and a better quality of life for the population.
In his view, although Angolan soils are available, they need correction to improve their PH (degree of acidity, neutrality or alkalinity of a given solution) and nutrients so that more productivity can be achieved in agriculture, and encourage investment.
On the other hand, the minister stressed that they have been promoting actions to create more awareness about the importance of using agrominerals for the sustainability of national agriculture.
The Workshop aimed to present ideas that promote the evolution of the agro-mineral cluster, where the participation of the Mineral Resources, Oil and Gas sector is decisive in the supply of inputs such as gas – as a source of nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P ), potassium (K), calcium, magnesium and other trace elements.
The event also had the objective of publicizing areas with potential for the exploration of phosphate rocks, limestone, geological information and processing of the act of requesting licenses for exploration.
On account of our cultural stereotypes, there is a deep sense of shame attached to mental illness. In a very big way, this keeps away people who really should be seeking help. And that is not all. This shame is also felt by families and as a result, they cannot resist the urge to hide away those family members who are themselves in need of help as a result of mental health. The number of people now suffering from mental health related illnesses has become so high that it warrants the situation being declared a crisis.
Families are suffering in silence. The stigma attached to mental health is making an already bad situation worse. Patients are too scared to seek help. Owing to stigma, people who need help cannot even approach clinics for assistance. In worse cases, it is the family members who are keeping the patients away in the backyards where they are hidden and not able to seek help. As a result of covid, a situation that was already steadily growing is now out of control.
The clinical after effects of covid are to blame for a spike in mental health cases. Too many people have had a sharp deterioration in memory since covid. But so too are the effects of lockdowns. More vulnerable to these lockdowns have been children who went for long periods of time indoors and unable to go to school. Here we have to point out that during the lockdowns, there was a lot of abuse, violence and related ills often meted to helpless women and children. Covid made it much harder for people who needed help to access it.
Then there is the economy. Too many people are finding it hard just to get by. Cost of living is now out of control. Too many people have had their properties foreclosed. This has triggered depression for many of them. And there is no end in sight for the economic woes affecting too many people. Too many deaths that happened during covid have brought too many changes to too many people. Families were left vulnerable after losing breadwinners. This disoriented too many people. And many of them simply never recovered. Botswana has to pay attention to the country’s deteriorating mental health.
As we see, it the situation is frighteningly worse among the school children. It is aggravated by drugs and excessive times they spend on the internet. Among the children there is growing evidence in the rise of anxiety, depression, eating disorder, suicidal ideation and self-harm. That said, social media is certainly a part of the growing crisis. A lot can still be done to wean children off social media. Thee amount they spend on the internet is simply harmful to them.
Participating in the forum were public and private institutions that operate throughout the production chain, that is, mining operators, agribusiness companies, students from related areas, banks and finance and insurance companies.
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