AgrAbility for Africa

Promoting psychological resilience and well-being is more important than ever before in rural African communities faced with the COVID-19 pandemic that has exacerbated the problems faced by rural farmers with disabilities: the increasing uncertainty of the future, worsening extreme climate conditions, unending flooding that has destroyed millions of acres of crops and restricted farmers' movements by making many roads impassable in the Nile basin region - thus doubling transport costs and complicating market access for farmers. All these things have led to direct loss of income to farmers and low utilization of healthcare services because of the mobility issues. All these stresses can make it difficult to balance one's mental health and stay on top of the workload. It is therefore crucial to make mental health support services a priority.

For these reasons, the AgrAbility for Africa staff have partnered with the Upper Midwest Agricultural Safety and Health Center to improve health outcomes and control incidences of suicide and mental break down associated with the economic distress and isolation. The aim is to enable rural African farming communities take care of their own health through mental health education. Among the information dissemination avenues is the virtual distribution of the mental health information card meant to enhance farmers understanding of their risk levels so they can make informed choices about their well-being. They may then be able identify, understand, and respond to signs of mental stress or substance use challenges in their families, communities, colleagues, and neighbors; a solution that could result in substantial positive public health impact, by increasing the reporting of mental health crises and subsequently enhancing timely intervention.

Scientific reasoning applied to farming has proven to increase farm productivity and soil health. It is the basis of the AgrAbility for Africa team's active integration of science into their implementation of support services when working with farmers to improve their farm yields and overall farm profits.

Language barriers and limited literacy greatly limit access to scientific innovation intake in many farming communities in Africa, and Scientific Animations without Borders (SAWBO) has been at the forefront of discovering a pathway to bridge that gap, enabling low-literacy communities in Africa to benefit from international research. To view how AgrAbility for Africa has partnered with SAWBO to improve the lives of farmers in Africa, click here.

SAWBO staff and AgrAbility for Africa are working together to strengthen participatory information dissemination to improve the well-being of Africa farming communities under an initiative that brings together extension workers, disability support organizations, village health teams, and community influencers- all responding to unique farmer disabilities and farming community challenges. Together, these two agencies have been able to help farmers reduce the risk factors through animation education. Farmers and ranchers are being empowered to improve their soil health and farm yields, prevent injuries, control post-harvest loss, and prevent pesticide poisoning.

Submitted by Mutumba Faisal