Work Related Injuries and Ill-Health among Farm Workers at Selected Public Irrigation Schemes in Kenya

Abstract

Agriculture is one of the three most hazardous occupations in terms of safety and health due to the physical strain and repetitive movements associated with its tasks among others. It is however the mainstay of the Kenyan economy contributing 26% of the GDP annually and providing about 70% of the informal employment. This sector has recorded the highest number of non-fatal injuries compared to other sectors of the economy in the country over the years. This study was conducted to evaluate the work related injuries and ill health among farm workers in irrigation schemes in Kenya. The study adopted a longitudinal design and from a population of 21,561 a sample of 380 farm workers were randomly selected from three public irrigation schemes of Ahero, Perkerra and Mwea. Data was collected through observation, cross-sectional survey and focus group discussions. An intervention was carried out at Mwea irrigation scheme involving 40 farm workers through one crop cycle. The data collected was analysed using SPSS ver. 20 and presented in descriptive statistics. Inferential statistics was carried out using Chi Square tests and the results presented using charts and tables. The study found that farm workers were exposed to a variety of occupational hazards that includes biological, physical, chemical and ergonomic. In all the schemes, over 90% of the respondents had been injured at work with the major causes of the injuries being working tools and machinery. The body part that received majority of the injuries was the leg and the hand with the key tools responsible for the injuries being the hoe and machete. Chemical poisoning was one of the causes of ill health with symptoms of the serious cases being headache, dizziness, breathing problems and vomiting leading to hospital admissions. Other ill health cases reported by the farm workers included malaria, bilharzia, typhoid, back pains, and aching bones. Information collated from the HCP indicated the main ailments treated as malaria and gastrointestinal ailments at Ahero; URTI and typhoid for Perkerra and URTI and skin ailments for Mwea. The main constraints to application of good OSH practices included lack of effective training; lack of advisory services; ignorance of the existence of the OSH law; lack of knowledge and economic ability to procure PPE. The estimated economic losses excluding fatalities was 5.7% for all public irrigation schemes earnings in Kenya. The intervention adopted a training model that produced good results after training. The study concluded that farm workers were at a high risk of accidents and ill health due to exposure to uncontrolled biological, chemical, physical and ergonomic hazards; the government does not consider farm worker’s safety and health as a key driver of vision 2030; effective safety and health training is inadequate to empower the farm workers to manage the hazards. The study recommends that the county governments should give priority to the provision of drinking water and sanitary facilities in the farms while the central government should come up with guidelines on OSH in agriculture to facilitate compliance with OSH requirements in small scale farming, and offer effective participative training.