Rains and Bad News
Weeds and Malaria Choke Farmers
Nature’s fury against small holder farmer productivity is captured in the impact of rain to farming. Farmers who rely on rain fed agriculture have reasons to smile and weep at the same time. The good news is on adequate water supply for crops; the bad news is on weeds out to choke plants and mosquito breeding puddles that serve as launching pads for attacks against farmers.
Weeds compete for nutrients and sunlight with crops. A small holder farmer in Sub Sahara Africa spends an average of 200 hours in backbreaking hand held hoe weed control solution. I have done this before and I guarantee you one has muscle pain that calls for medical remedies. Combine this with malarial mosquito attack on the farmer and the outcome is a weak frontline soldier assigned to fight hunger in developing countries. Too much rain also leads to floods, destruction of crops and other property.
Small holder farmers are frontline soldiers against famine; they are confronted with a multiplicity of forces that hold back their productivity. Instead of agro industry working independent of public health; they ought to partner in their farmer outreach strategies. The agro industry could say, provide weed solutions while the public health provide anti mosquito solutions. Great opportunities exist in this sector for innovators.
