| Closer ties between the agriculture and health sectors can be highly rewarding. It's time we reorient related public policies. |
| How intimately the agriculture and health sectors are inter-linked is not generally fully appreciated. That perhaps explains why in administrative structure the two sectors are totally disconnected. But there is growing evidence to suggest that closer ties between the two, to the extent of jointly pursuing development strategies, can be highly rewarding for the people, the rich and poor alike. |
| The recent emergence of diseases such as mad cow, bird flu and severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) are some of the worst manifestations of how the livestock and farm sector can impact human health. Yet there is hardly any concrete move towards reorienting public policies to promote synergy between the agriculture and health sectors. |
| Fortunately, a new initiative to create awareness about this issue and promote joint action on the agriculture and health fronts has now been launched by the Washington-based International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), and its sister global research bodies being supported by the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR). One of the objectives of this initiative is to facilitate better coordination of health-related research among the CGIAR centres and various partners in the health sector. |
| Under this venture, the IFPRI has brought out a series of 16 global policy briefs on various aspects of the agriculture-health linkage. These papers, even while underscoring the basic issues, dwell at length on the applied aspects of agriculture and health sectors that impinge on each others' territories. |
| Indeed, many health-related problems in people can be traced to food-borne infections. The World Health Organisation (WHO) estimates that annually about 1.8 million people (excluding data on China) die due to diarrheal diseases caused by microbial agents carried through contaminated food and water. |
| What is worse, globalisation has confounded this hazard, as an item contaminated on one farm can now cause multiple outbreaks all over the world. The way the recent epidemics of mad cow (bovine spongiform encephalopathy or BSE), highly pathogenic avian influenza (bird flu) and SARS spread to regions far beyond the neighbourhood of the source of infection, bears out the impact of globalisation on agriculture-related health risks. |
| Diseases such as malaria, Japanese encephalitis and others are related largely to irrigation systems created for agriculture. Studies have revealed higher incidence of malaria near rice fields (where water is kept stagnant) than around cotton fields using very little water. Encephalitis, another disease caused by mosquito vectors, has been observed to be prevalent more around irrigated fields and pig farms. In 2005, the encephalitis outbreak in north India, affecting over 1,000 people, was relatively more severe near paddy farms and piggeries. |
| Ill-health, death and disabilities in the rural sector are caused also by pesticides, farm machinery and sharp tools, snake and insect bites, and emission of hazardous fume, dust and particulate matters in agricultural fields. The IFPRI papers have quoted from research studies in India to suggest that agricultural workers using powered machinery are the most at risk from fatal accidents. But, at the same time, the injuries are actually more common in less mechanised villages due to lower adherence to safety standards. In Madhya Pradesh alone, the value of human lives lost due to fatal injuries in agriculture in 2000 was assessed at $27 million (approximately Rs 1,215 million at the present exchange rate). |
| However, all this does not lend itself to the conclusion that agriculture is hazardous for human health by nature. In fact, the farm sector also holds immense health benefits for mankind by way of nutrition through cereals, fruits, vegetables, fish and other livestock products, provided these are handled and managed properly at both pre- and post-harvest stages. This sector is also the custodian of the sources of most traditional medicines used by over two-thirds of the population in Asia and Africa. These are gaining currency in the developed world as well due to their side-effect free nature. |
| What is needed, therefore, is to bridge the schism between the agriculture and health sectors. As pointed out in the IFPRI policy briefs, it is primarily the different training paths and institutional backgrounds that hinder the development of any common focus between these two sectors. Policy makers need to offer incentives to prompt agriculture and health professionals to work collaboratively. A practical way suggested for this purpose is to seek documentation of joint-sector activities carried out at the individual or departmental level at the time of annual performance appraisals. Policy makers need to pay due attention to this. |
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