This paper examines the health effects due to air pollution on peasant farmers in Benue State, Nigeria. The study is based on the review of epidemiological data collected from clinics and hospitals in the State. The diseases found to be prevalent in the study area include allergic asthma, pulmonary tuberculosis, pneumonia, upper respiratory tract infection (URTI), chronic bronchitis and visual impairment. The ambient air quality in the state is far worse than national and international ambient air quality standards. This gives an indication of a strong correlation between the diseases and the air pollutants. The environmental impact matrices of the patients versus diseases indicate that pollution is already affecting the quality of life and productivity of the people. Since agriculture is the principal occupation of Nigerians, accounting for about 60% of employment, a case is made for an intensification of environmental education, especially among the rural farmers.
Access to adequate food constitutes the most serious problem for most African households today. Low productivity rapid population growth, food aid and food importation, structural adjustment programmes, illiteracy, environmental degradation, poorly formulated and executed food policies, wars and political instability are among the factors held responsible for food insecurity and food inadequacy in Sub-Saharan Africa. The promotion of food security and improvement of living conditions of the African people should form the core of development programmes in Africa for years to come. Therefore, policy reversals are urgently needed to put Africa on the path of development, and a cooperative regionalism is advocated. Africans both at home and in the diaspora must collectively assume the responsibility for the advancement of African agriculture and economy.
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