When agricultural productivity becomes a victim of drug abuse

Obert Chifamba

Agri-Insight

IT seems agriculturists’ attention on the global scale is currently fixated on monitoring and dodging the threats posed by natural disasters like El Nino and La Nina to productivity with very little attention being spared for challenges resulting from human shortcomings.

Human shortcomings form a walking and talking reason for stakeholders in the agriculture industry to be fretting over solutions to take care of them day and night.

Labour, for instance, is always expected to be at its best for a season to be successful.

A season with all the rainfall amounts and input requirements it needs cannot be successful if there is no correspondingly apt labour force.

The current threat posed by drug abuse on labour has easily become a clear and present danger to agricultural productivity and although the topic is trending in most social discourses, it seems to be more centred on what drug abuse can do to the health of the abuser and not its impact on other important nuggets of that life they seek to protect.

Agriculture, for one, is a sector that is on the receiving end of the brutal effects of labour shortages being caused by many factors with drug abuse being one of them, albeit, with very few people looking in its direction. It is a truth universally acknowledged that drug abuse can have profoundly detrimental effects on workers’ productivity across various industries, hence the need to make sure labour is not compromised by such avoidable vices.

Just recently, some tobacco farmers raised concerns over labour shortages emanating from failure by workers to give their best services because of drug abuse and toxic concoctions some of them are ingesting to get high.

This is taking a toll on farmers’ production because they are failing to meet certain agronomic deadlines that are crucial in ensuring that crops attain their expected physiological maturity.

The list of intoxicants that are being taken by people is long with ‘kambwa’ (small dog) topping the grade.

There is also another one – ‘mutoriro’ that has become infamous for rendering its consumers helplessly weak or getting incapacitated to the point of dying in some cases. These intoxicants have infiltrated all parts of the country – urban, rural and farming communities included.

It is sad to note that the drugs are luring the productive age group – youths and middle aged men and women.

These illicit substances boast the advantage of high alcohol percentages that can send someone topsy-turvy in a matter of minutes and absurdly low asking prices, as trivial as 50 cents for a small bottle.

The drugs are said to suppress appetite, weaken the body and cause extreme lethargy.

Effectively, this means that if farm workers take them, they will not be able to work to their full potential afterwards.

The drugs render them incapable of meeting the physical demands of their duties, and therefore fail to deliver the results growers so direly need.

Such workers obviously sleep long hours that encroach into productive time and this means production will be the ultimate loser in this whole fiasco.

Beyond agriculture, the ripple effects of these illicit intoxicants are also being felt across society, tearing at the social and economic stability of rural households. One thing for certain is that effective agricultural operations depend heavily on a reliable and healthy workforce.

A situation in which some workers arrive at work drunk is never safe given that some operate machinery that can easily become a danger to them or other workers.

Drunk workers cannot work effectively on something that is as delicate and sensitive as the tobacco leaf especially during reaping, curing or grading when workers are expected to be in their best states of mind.

In the end it is the farmer whose income is affected negatively despite having all the needed production resources.

The point at which we are as a country at the moment in terms of the proliferation of this drug scourge requires a holistic approach including all stakeholders, not just those in agriculture, but all sectors of the economy to find a way of containing it.

This may start with serious awareness campaigns accompanied by stiffer penalties for those found peddling or ingesting them.

It is disappointing to note that those who produce the illicit brews are not registered with the Standards Association of Zimbabwe (SAZ) or the liquor controlling board.

They produce and sell their products clandestinely and do not seem worried about the disaster they are causing in the society.

On the farms, the illicit drugs are obviously traded in the compounds, hence the need to control who dwells there and make sure there are no illegal squatters staying there, but not working on the farm. Such people are usually the conduits for the sale of the drugs.

When addressing a problem, it is usually best to trace it to the source.

Although the drug abuse problem does not start with the peddler and is naturally the culmination of many different factors at play, it may make sense to disrupt the process and make it less effective while everlasting solutions are being sought.

It is a fact that drug abuse is inflicting immeasurable harm on public health and safety around the world each year, and threatening the peaceful development and smooth functioning of many societies.

It is affecting workplace productivity through absenteeism and general incompetency on the part of those that make it to work even still under the influence.

Employers on the other hand must also make sure their work environments do not make it conducive for employees to find it necessary to seek refuge in drugs because they struggle to either make ends meet due to poor remuneration or stressful working conditions.

They must take time to appreciate the negative effects of drugs on their labour force.

Drugs always have severe effects on users’ lives, such as health, education or employment outcomes, as well as externalities that may manifest in the form of such things as car accidents, criminal activities or an increasing burden on public health care.

At times it can also show through mental instability or other health related issues that make workers less productive to levels almost equating to labour shortages.

That done and said, it is also important for farmers to also make sure they find a way of reducing the problem by adopting stiffer penalties on offenders that may even include dismissal from work.

Usually the reality of waking up without a job may prove scarier than failing to provide for family and may therefore whip would-be offenders into line. They may also even consider a wage deduction although this may also become an easy excuse for someone to turn to ‘kambwa’ or ‘mutoriro’ to seek refuge from worries.

Food for thought!!!