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In spite of the alternatives that have been put to use in other parts of the country, most women in the booming business of fish smoking in Oyo and Ogun States are unaware of the inherent dangers firewood burning poses to them, their immediate environment and the climate at large. IFEDAYO OGUNYEMI reports the lives of those in the fish smoking business who live with these silent killers: smoke, pollution and deforestation.
Rays of the afternoon sun pelted her head as she fanned the embers beneath the half-cut iron drum with the smoke permeating the air. “This smoke is unbearable, Iya Maria,” said one of the three neighbours conversing under a makeshift shed about five meters away. Their voices rose and fell intermittently. “Don’t be offended,” she replied from under the glow of the scorching sun, apologising for the inconvenience in the language of the Yoruba, a dominant group in Nigeria’s Southwest.