1 min
Farmers belong to the most hard working people in the World: from tilling the soil to maintaining the farm and balancing the ecosystem for more productive activities. However, these activities come at a cost borne by the farmers, and in some cases it is an expensive cost that comes with health challenges.
The farmers’ health is one of the overlooked issues that is yet to be mainstreamed. This is because health issues in most developing countries are perceived as personal issues, until they become a public concern.
Without mincing words, there are levels of risks farmers are exposed to during food production: mild, moderate or severe risks. In some cases, farmers could work under unfavourable weather conditions - in the rain or sun (at a high temperature) - in order to meet up some requirements made of them, without any protective measures. At other times, they are exposed to synthetic pesticides, due to unavailability and unaffordability of personal protective equipment (PPE) during the mixture and spraying of plant protection products. Some pesticides may drift while spraying pesticides to surrounding water bodies, which might be the source of drinking water for the farmers. Also, overfertilization of the farm could contaminate water bodies as a result of leaching.
These and many other activities could pose health risks to the farmers and they have been left unchecked for years, contributing to the food insecurity especially when farmers need to manage their health during production season and reduce their productivity and availability for farm activities.
We cannot continue to ignore dangerous situations and bad precedents before we take actions to correct them immediately. We need to support access to improved health care services in our rural areas through special intervention programs that address some of the occupational health issues caused by farming. We need to deploy more qualified health care workers to our rural areas to meet the health needs of our farmers. In addition, providing quality health care services comes at a cost that most farmers cannot afford. Thus, we need to subsidise the cost of accessing these services for them, especially those who are in critical stages and need urgent medical attention through a farmers’ health scheme. Furthermore, we need to create more awareness on high risk activities on the farm and how to reduce them.
Accessing quality health services should be a fundamental right of everyone, irrespective of where they live. Being intentional to provide the health needs of the farmers should be a priority to all stakeholders working towards achieving food security. Without good health, it is hard for the farmers to produce food satisfactorily. Only a healthy farmer can produce healthy food with maximum productivity. Let us unite to improve the health services available to our farmers in order to build a better local economy.
Yours-in-Service
Babatunde
Without mincing words, there are levels of risks farmers are exposed to during food production: mild, moderate or severe risks. In some cases, farmers could work under unfavourable weather conditions - in the rain or sun (at a high temperature) - in order to meet up some requirements made of them, without any protective measures. At other times, they are exposed to synthetic pesticides, due to unavailability and unaffordability of personal protective equipment (PPE) during the mixture and spraying of plant protection products. Some pesticides may drift while spraying pesticides to surrounding water bodies, which might be the source of drinking water for the farmers. Also, overfertilization of the farm could contaminate water bodies as a result of leaching.
These and many other activities could pose health risks to the farmers and they have been left unchecked for years, contributing to the food insecurity especially when farmers need to manage their health during production season and reduce their productivity and availability for farm activities.
We cannot continue to ignore dangerous situations and bad precedents before we take actions to correct them immediately. We need to support access to improved health care services in our rural areas through special intervention programs that address some of the occupational health issues caused by farming. We need to deploy more qualified health care workers to our rural areas to meet the health needs of our farmers. In addition, providing quality health care services comes at a cost that most farmers cannot afford. Thus, we need to subsidise the cost of accessing these services for them, especially those who are in critical stages and need urgent medical attention through a farmers’ health scheme. Furthermore, we need to create more awareness on high risk activities on the farm and how to reduce them.
Accessing quality health services should be a fundamental right of everyone, irrespective of where they live. Being intentional to provide the health needs of the farmers should be a priority to all stakeholders working towards achieving food security. Without good health, it is hard for the farmers to produce food satisfactorily. Only a healthy farmer can produce healthy food with maximum productivity. Let us unite to improve the health services available to our farmers in order to build a better local economy.
Yours-in-Service
Babatunde
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