Health and Safety in Agriculture and Food Security Nexus - CiteSeerX

Int. J. Emerg. Sci., 1(2), 73-82, June 2011 ISSN: 2222-4254 © IJES

Health and Safety in Agriculture and Food Security Nexus

Samuel Toyin Olowogbon Occupational Health and safety Division of Vertext Media Ltd, Ibadan, Nigeria. [email protected]

Abstract. On a national scale, agricultural accidents place a great burden on the economy, the efficiency of the workers is impeded and agricultural output and productivity is reduced. The research assesses the implication of health and safety in agriculture and food security nexus.100 respondents with agriculture as primary occupation were randomly selected in Ibadan metropolis, Nigeria. Health and work performance questionnaire (HPQ) and interview schedule was for data collection. The result revealed that about 63% of the respondents have been prevented from doing their work as a result of occupational injuries and illness which leads to lost time injuries (LTI) , restricted work cases (RWC) and fatalities leading to production loss which impedes food security. Hence, the need for formulation and implementation of effective health and safety policy in Agriculture as well as encouraging record keeping of injuries or accidents with performance review. These will in-turn boost food security and living standard of the country. Keywords: Agriculture, Food Security, Health and Safety

1 INTRODUCTION Agriculture is a major stakeholder to food security issues. In order to ease the global pressure on food security, Agriculture the main stay of most developing countries must be properly developed and efficiently maximized. Agriculture as carried out today is a dangerous occupation, with millions of workers sustaining injury and death throughout the world.[1] The issue of health and safety in agriculture in a developing nation like Nigeria is still at a lower ebb or non-existence despite the fact that agriculture is still the mainstay of her economy in spite of its decline in the 70’s due to oil boom. In terms of employment, agriculture is by far the most important sector of Nigeria's economy, engaging about 70% of the labor force [2]. A greater fraction of the country’s population of over 140 million depends on agriculture for their livelihood either directly or indirectly. But this sector is one which there is a deep seated culture of unwise risk taking and lack of appreciation of the role good health and safety management can play [3]. Farm workers are exposed to hazard ranging from; chemical, physical, ergonomics, biological and 73

Samuel Toyin Olowogbon

psychosocial hazards thereby leading to disorders and diseases like carcinogenicity (cancer causing), mutagenicity (induce mutations), tetragenicity(affect the feotus), psychiatric disorder and delayed neuropathy, and the dusts have been known to cause diseases ranging from Byssinosis, occupational asthma, pneumonitis and non-specific Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease(COPD)[1] and musculoskeletal disorder the list is endless. . After construction, agricultural sector has the worst record for work related fatalities and one of the worst for occupational ill health and injuries [3]. Nigeria with little or no data on workers health and safety especially in the agricultural sector probably because the workers are peasant and rural dwellers coupled with the poor awareness on the role of health and safety to the development and productivity of the sector. According to ILO report in 2000, [4] it reveals that 170, 000(50.7%) agricultural workers are killed each year from the total of 335, 000 in fatal workplace accidents worldwide. Therefore special attention is needed for the health and safety of agricultural workers, who constitute three quarters of the Nigerian working population. A healthy workforce is definitely one of the most important economic assets to a nation .An unhealthy workforce is therefore an economic loss to a nation which in turn affects the productivity and in this case food security[5]. At the individual level, health can directly increase general output (e.g through reduced absenteeism, injury and illnesses as well as improved morale and general work-well being. Consequently, economists and historians have focused much attention on better understanding of productivity determinants. There is an increasing awareness that human capital is a key factor. Recently, however, increasing attention has been given to health as a form of human capital[6]. Poor health state erodes human capital and reduces resilience to shock and reduces productivity as well as impaired physical and mental capacity[7]. 1.1. Food Security and United Nations Millennium Development Goals (Mdgs)

Food is a necessity for human life. A human or any living thing can live without any luxury of life but cannot survive without food; no wonder the issue of food is tagged MDG1 on the UN Millennium Development Goals list. Progress on food security and achieving MDG1 has been uneven geographically and between population groups. Although there are food security challenges across the world, most progress remains to be made in Africa and in countries in fragile situations [8]. According to the 2009 MDG Report nine [9], the proportion of undernourished population in Sub-Saharan Africa, decreased from 32% (1990-92) to 29% in 2008. This evidence revealed that Africa, including Nigeria is still far from reaching the UN MDG target.

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International Journal of Emerging. Sciences, 1(2), 73-82, June 2011

1.2. Why Health and Safety in Agriculture?

Health and Safety has been identified to have a strong influence and invaluable to any sector of the economy agriculture inclusive. Effective management of health and safety can help deliver improved productivity and efficiency. Health and safety has been tie to positive performance indicators (PPIs)[10]."Agriculture" covers not only farming but also many other associated activities such as crop processing and packaging, irrigation, pest management, grain storage, animal husbandry, construction and domestic tasks (carrying water or fuel-wood, etc.). Agricultural work — and this is one of its distinguishing characteristics — is carried out in a rural environment where there is no clear-cut distinction between working and living conditions. As agricultural work is carried out in the countryside, it is subject to the health hazards of a rural environment as well as those inherent in the specific work processes involved [11]. Due to the nature of the agricultural work, workers in this sector are prone to many hazards, hence a need for health and safety in Agriculture. Recent innovation in agriculture has added drastically to the dangers or hazards faced by farm workers. The use of chemicals would expose them to chemically related toxic material dangerous to health. The use or machinery exposes them to excessive noise pollution, the cumulative effect of all these hazards associated with new technologies would on a long run affect the wellbeing of these workers, if effective health and safety programme is not put in place to mitigate the effect of such hazards. 1.3. Economic Cost of Farm Injury and Fatality

According to Dr Pollock of Australian Centre for Agricultural Health and Safety; He revealed from his research that farm-related injury deaths cost the Australian economy $651 million (2008 dollars) in the four years from 2001–2004. He further explained “The figure of $651 million equates to 2.7% of the 2008 farm gross domestic product (GDP), however this is a conservative estimate, as there are many other costs of a farm injury death that are unquantifiable, such as grief, emotional loss, pain and suffering.[12] Meanwhile, other costs lack readily available and accurate data sources, for example, loss of farm production, production delays, machinery or equipment damage, insurance, taxation and community losses,” the researcher added “If you add also the costs of long-term, permanent injuries and serious injuries requiring hospitalization, the true cost of farm-related deaths and injuries to the Australian economy would be considerably higher,”[13]. If the cost burden could be so evident in a developed country what would the case be in a developing country? According to Robert McKee, Chairman Conoco (UK) Ltd. In his opinion “Safety is, without doubt, the most crucial investment we can make, and the question is not what it costs us, but what it saves.” This implies that effective health and safety programme has more benefit than the cost. The cost incurred can either be direct or indirect. Direct cost are cost that has a direct relationship with an incident or accident such as Workers compensation, accident insurance, production losses, damage to plant and equipment e.t.c while the indirect

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cost or hidden cost are those cost incurred from an accident with some hidden implications, a such as time wasted, training cost, farm families and communities are affected, emotionally from the death of a relative. Consequently, there are many reasons for implementing health and safety as a core division in agriculture, also known as “managing farm safety programme” The following are the most common justifications:

(A)

Worker

Sickness absence, reduced morale and effectiveness, injuries, temporary or permanent incapacitation, or fatality

(B) Co-Worker (C) Workers’ Family Decreased morale and effectiveness

Psychological effect

(D) Direct Cost

(XYZ)

(E) Decrease output and

Medical bill, Compensation, payment for work not done, replacement cost for damaged equipment and machinery, training and other administrative cost

FARM ACCIDENTS

Production Loss

(F) Damage to Equipment Animal

Indirect Cost Cost of replacing injured worker, Cost of training new worker, Poor health and Safety could lead to poor public relations, and it takes time for new worker to adjust (Lost time)

Building Machinery Figure 1: Holistic effects of Farm Accidents

To reduce the economic cost incurred on prevented health and safety issues in agriculture • Improve safety culture in agriculture • improve the productivity of farmers

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• • • • • • • • •

Assisting farmers to respond to the new industrial challenges in agriculture Help in achieving food security Increase the general turn over in agriculture Helping agriculture to be a sustainable sector Reduce the numbers of injured farm workers Reduce damage to property Reduce Lost Time Injuries and Restricted Work Cases Produce a healthy agricultural work force Assist farmers to have optimum access to health and safety information.

The above figure shows explicitly the effects and economic cost of farm accidents. A-C shows the effect on the employee while D-F shows the effect on the employer. This study therefore seek to bring to the fore the relationship between health and safety and the role health and safety management in attaining food security and also intend to stimulate discussion and improvement in policy formulation and implementation as it relates to health and safety and food security with improved living standard.

2. RELATED WORK Agriculture ranks among the most hazardous industries. Farmers are at high risk for fatal and nonfatal injuries, work-related lung diseases, noise-induced hearing loss, skin diseases, and certain cancers associated with chemical use and prolonged sun exposure. One of the difficulties in dealing with agriculture is that it is a very complex and heterogeneous sector. It involves a number of specific situations which vary from country to country and between developed and developing countries .Half of the world labour force is employed in agriculture and an estimated 1.3 billion workers are engaged in agricultural production worldwide. The share of the agricultural labour force in the total economically active population is under 10 per cent in developed countries and accounts for 59 per cent of workers in the less developed regions. [14]. Agriculture which in the current context includes, farming, arboriculture, horticulture, fish farming and of increasing significance, with the introduction of public “rights to roam” legislation, amenity use of the countryside. Although employment has steadily been declining, the industry has remained a priority for HSE because of its notoriously poor injury record. It has the worst fatal injury rate of any major employment sector which for 2007-08 stands at 9.7 deaths per 100,000 workers. During the last decade the fatal injury rate has fluctuated between 7.7 and 11.3 per 100,000 workers, approaching nearly 10 times the allindustry rate. The principal causes of fatal accidents are common to all sectors of the industry – transport, falls from height and being struck by an object. Agriculture is also an industry with a poor record of occupational health though, as in other sectors, the statistical base is weak, provides limited intelligence and is currently the subject of further HSE-commissioned research. The latest survey of self-reported

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work-related illness (SWI) carried out in 2007/08 estimated that 18 000 people whose current or most recent job in the last year was in the agriculture, hunting, forestry and fishing industry suffered from an illness which was caused or made worse by this job [15].

3. METHODOLOGY The study was carried out in Ibadan metropolis in Oyo State, Nigeria. The state has thirty-three Local Government Areas. Its population is 1,338,659 according to census results for 2006.With Coordinates 7°23′47″N, 3°55′0″E and Area 1,189.2 sq mi (3,080 km2). Ibadan has a tropical wet and dry climate, with a lengthy wet season and relatively constant temperatures throughout the course of the year. Ibadan’s, wet season runs from March through October, though August sees somewhat of a lull in precipitation. This lull nearly divides the wet season into two different wet seasons. The remaining months forms the city’s dry season. Like a good portion of West Africa, Ibadan experiences the harmattan between the months of November and February. Agriculture is the main occupation of the people of Oyo State. The climate in the state favours the cultivation of crops like maize, yam, cassava, millet, rice, plantains, cocoa, palm produce, cashew etc [16], [17] .Data were obtained using a health and work performance questionnaire coupled with structured interview schedule, administered to 100 respondents with agriculture as the primary occupation. These respondents were randomly selected from the faming population in the area; this was supplemented with secondary data from reports, publications and internet. Simple statistics such as mean, mode, percentages and frequency, charts and lost time injury frequency analysis index were used for the data analysis.

4.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

Table 1. Results

Demographic characteristics

Frequency

Percentage %

30 40 30

30 40 30

80 20

80 20

Age (years) 20-30 31-40 >40 Sex Males Females

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Marital Status Single Married

20 80

20 80

40 40 20

40 40 20

No formal education Primary

30 50

30 50

Secondary

20

20

40 60

40 60

Yes

35

35

No

65

65

Religion Christianity Islam Traditional

Educational background

Hazard Awareness Yes No

PPE usage

The above table reveals that 80% of the respondents are male signifying a male dominated occupation, with a modal age group of 31-40 which denote age range of vigour and strength. The highest level of education from the respondents is secondary school certification which implies that they have little or no formal education which has be proven to have a strong tie to adoption of innovation and modern practices. The study revealed that 60% of the respondents are not aware of any inherent hazard in agriculture, this connote the fact that health and safety in agriculture as it relates to occupational health and safety is at a lower ebb is the country hence a need for awareness campaign. 4.1. HPQ questions response.

Statistics of respondents that have experienced one form of discomfort in the past 12 months related to their occupation

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NO OF PEOPLE WITH INJURY

INJURY FREQUENCY 100 80 60 40 Series1

20 0

INJURY TYPE Figure 2. Injury Frequency

Figure 2 reveals that 80% of the respondents had wrist/hand injury, 75% had had lower back pain and 55% knee injury in the last 12 months resulting resulting from their job which shows that occupational injury in agriculture is prominent, which probably due to the poor awareness level of stakeholders in the sector to identifying the roles that health and safety can play in maximizing productivity. Statistics tics of respondents that have at any time during the last 12 months been prevented from doing their work because of discomfort in their body part.

No of peopele with injury

LOST TIME INJURY INDEX 100

50

0

INJURY TYPE Figure 3. Lost time injury index

Based on a growing relationship between health and productivity which in this case is food security of agricultural productivity. Figure 3 reveals that 80% of the respondents have been prevented from doing their job as a result of wrist/hand injury and 75% have been also prevented as a result of lower back injury. These 80


occupational injuries have resulted in LTI and RWC which has reduced productivity thereby impeding food security. 5.

RECOMMENDATIONS

To protect these workers for a healthier agricultural sector and a guaranteed food security. The following should be put in place: Formulation and Implementation of health and safety policies in Agriculture in Nigeria • Workers in agriculture should be educated/trained on agricultural hazards and means of prevention • Awareness on usage and the Provision of Personal Protective Equipment(PPE) for workers ranging from hang cloves, coveralls, footwear, ear muffs etc. • Extension agents, cooperative societies, trade unions should be equipped with accurate information so that they can enlighten farmers on the hazards. • Provision of basic infrastructures to the rural dwellers which are mostly farmers. • First aid education for farmers in case of acute injury or illness. • Integration of occupational health in to primary health care since this will bring the information nearer to the target group. • Proper record keeping on agricultural health and safety should be encouraged. Conclusively, “Health they say is wealth” for maximum productivity and development of the sector, health and safety of the workers needed to be addressed. Nigerian populace depends on agriculture for their livelihood either directly or indirectly. Poor health and safety leads to lost time injuries or lost workman-days and restricted work case which will definitely impedes productivity and poor productivity in agriculture in-turn impedes food security. Therefore, making the health and safety of these workers in agriculture a focal point, will not just boost the sector’s productivity, or increased food production and sustainability or Gross Domestic Product (GDP) but leads to food security and a healthy society. We need a healthy agricultural working force for the nation’s food security. •

REFERENCES 1. Mostafa A.El Batami (2003) Health of Agricultural Workers in Agriculture: World Health Regional Publication, Eastern Mediterranean Series 25 2. Kwanasahi et.al, (1998) Nigerian economy: response of Agriculture to adjustment policy. Retrieved from www.aerfrica/documents/RD78 .PDF: 26th April 2010. 3. Chris Ide (2008): Pastoral care, Safety Health Practitioner Magazine, Nov 2008 published by United Media 4. B.F Oluwagbemi (2007) Basic Occupational Health and Safety : published by Vertext Media Limited,Ibadan. .

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5. Karen Davis,Sara R.Collins, Michelle M.Doty,Alice Ho and Alyssa L Holmgren 2005.www.commonwealthfund.org/usr doc/856 Davis hlt productivity US workers retrived 18/03/11 6. Emile Tompa (2002) :The Impact of Health on Productivity :Empirical Evidence and Policy Implications. The review of economic Performance and Social Progress. 7. Soekirman 2010: Food Security and Nutrition Nexus: Food security seminar at Manila July,2010. 8. http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=CELEX:52010DC0127:en:NOT 9. UN, the Millennium Development Goals Report 2009. 10. http://www.dol.govt.nz/publications/research/good-sense/good-sense_06.asp 11. ILO: Yearbook of Labour Statistics, 1996, op. cit.; National Safety Council: International Accident Facts (Illinois, United States, 1995); J. L. Murray and A. D. Lopez (eds.): The global burden of disease (WHO Global burden of disease and injury series. World Bank, Harvard School of Public Health, Washington, DC, 1997); FAO: The state of food and agriculture, op. cit. 12. http://www.farmsafe.org.au/index.php?article=content/recent-news#economic-costs-offarm-injury-deaths 13. LM Day, E Cassell, L Li and A McGrath Monash University : Preventing Farm Injuries Overcoming the Barriers A report for the Rural Industries Research and Development Corporation http://www.monash.edu.au/muarc/reports/Other/RIRDC15a.pdf 14. http://www.hse.gov.uk/agriculture/hsagriculture.htm retrieved on the 20/02/11 15. http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/topics/agriculture/ retrieved on the 20/02/11 16. http://www.en.wikipedia.or/wiki/Ibadan----retrieved on September 30, 2010 17. http://www.ngex.com/nigeria/places/states/oyo.htm retrieved on the 20/04/11 *1http://ezinearticles.com/?Understand-the-Safety-Terms---Lost-Time-Injury&id=3555828 retrieved on 20/02/11 *2http://ezinearticles.com/?Understand-the-Safety-Terms---Lost-Time-Injury&id=3555828 retrieved on 20/02/11 *3 N. Gregory Mankiw, 2001: Principles of Economics Second Edition published by Harcourt College Publishers USA 837pp... *4 The World Food Summit in 1996 Report,13-17 November, Rome Italy *5http://www.safework.sa.gov.au/contentPages/EducationAndTraining/HazardManagement/ DealingWithHazards/dealDefinition.htm *6 World Health Organization: http://www.who.int/about/definition/en/print.html *7 http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/safety.html

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