From: =?Windows-1252?B?V2luZG93cyBJbnRlcm5ldCBFeHBsb3JlciA5IILFlduRtoKzguqCxA==?= =?Windows-1252?B?gqKC3IK3?= Subject: Date: Thu, 28 Feb 2013 10:46:50 +0900 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/html; charset="Windows-1252" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Content-Location: file://C:\Users\k108348\AppData\Local\Temp\Mori Report 2013.htm X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V6.1.7601.17609
Health Risks in=20
Transitional Agricultures
Cases: Central =
Vietnam and=20
Southern Laos
The significance of =
this=20
inquiry lies in the fact that the greatest majority of developing =
countries=92=20
population reside in rural areas. They are engaged mostly in farming and =
producing other products consumed within their own communities. In =
Vietnam (and=20
Lao PDR), the rural population accounts for 73% (and 71%) of the entire=20
population, even though they contribute only a little over 20% (and 35%) =
of=20
GDP.[i]=20
To understand what the majority of the population does and how they =
decide what=20
they do, therefore, is to understand what to expect from the largest =
group of=20
potential =93beneficiaries=94 of the nation-wide attempt at improving =
economic and=20
other life.[ii] =
There is=20
also a need to capture the basis of the behavior of this largest group. =
In 2006,=20
the World Bank reported that costs of chemicals-induced health and other =
damages=20
in Vietnam surpassed one billion US dollars a year accounting for nearly =
2% of=20
Vietnam=92s GD (2006), 57 billion US dollars.[iii]The=20
total is estimated from medical costs and losses from the forgone =
markets of the=20
contaminated agricultural products.
In the mean time, a micro level observation of =
rural=20
life often turns up seemingly contradictory behaviors. Several years =
ago, one of=20
my informants in a rural Vietnam told me that he was not interested in =
having=20
another child. He already had two children including one suffering from =
a severe=20
cerebral palsy, induced by dioxin contamination of the drinking water. =
One year=20
ago, the same farmer showed me his youngest and third, a daughter, =
sitting next=20
to the handicapped child. To have more than a couple of children is a =
burden=20
heavy enough for his poor household. To risk having another handicapped =
child=20
seemed to me the sign that the father had forgone all the necessary =
calculations=20
for a sustainable life. But a thought struck me that he may have merely =
followed=20
the dictate of more conventional rules of behavior =96 seeking to =
fulfill one or=20
more of the three utilities of having children =96 labor, future =
insurance and=20
affection.[iv]=20
Still his decision =
was definitely out of=20
the ordinary under the pressure of commercializing agriculture and of =
the=20
increasing cautions against the use of pesticides and other =
agrochemicals.
Conditions under which the farmers are =
confronted by the=20
decisions that help improve their life are, needless to say, complex. =
However,=20
one point of note among many of my informants is the fact that =
production, and=20
thus the efficient mode of production, does not dominate their concerns. =
A hint=20
for this puzzle may be offered by Clifford Geertz=92s Bali farmers in =
Indonesia.[v]They=20
allow the farmland absorb the increasing population even at the cost of=20
agricultural per capita productivity. The gain, however, is the security =
of=20
employment for all, an invaluable gain for the community. =
In a similar way, there is an act of balancing =
more than=20
one concern among the Vietnamese farmers. They are concerned not only =
with=20
agricultural production but also with others tasks which collectively =
constitute=20
their secure life, such as having children, making the meaningful use of =
the=20
idle time between the harvest seasons, observation of communal customs, =
or=20
raising pigs and other livestock as the contingency package in case of =
emergency=20
such as draught and other unpredictable disruptions of life. To a =
Vietnamese,=20
these activities are the sign of farmers dispersing their attention =
among many=20
targets, counterproductive practices which make the farmers resistant to =
changes=20
and turn rural economy =93stagnant.=94[vi]=20
But an entirely different interpretation is =
possible=20
that the Vietnamese farmers integrate economic and productive activities =
into=20
the overall system of life as a part, instead of turning their whole =
life into a=20
part of economic and productive activities. Given this reversal of the =
usual=20
view of the farmers as espoused by development economists and planners, =
it is=20
much easier to see that the farmers=92 behavior is shaped by the need to =
maintain=20
equilibrium among many concerns which collectively support their life. =
The=20
decision for action may be reached after the careful examination of if and how a choice of action makes a =
difference in the whole of life with which they are familiar against the =
resources at their disposal.
This leads to an important question: how could =
a farmer=20
maintain consistency in the choices of action, or make a choice which is =
consistently rational across many concerns of their life? It is here that the limited =
information,=20
or the evidence, concerning the consequence of a chosen action plays the =
critical role.
The question calls =
attention to=20
some of the conditions of farmers=92 life influencing their cognitive =
ability.=20
First, there is the absence of =93evidence=94 which may influence the =
farmers=92=20
choice. The case of medical experts=92 warning against the misuse or =
abuse of=20
chemicals or against reproduction may offer a good example. From a few =
cases of=20
chemicals-induced ailments like birth defects among those who have been =
exposed=20
directly or indirectly to Agent Orange, the medical experts may see a=20
distinctive pattern, the likelihood of recurrence among the farmers in =
the same=20
living environment or with similar background. However, this=20
=93scientifically-proven=94 evidence is in conflict with another =
=93empirical=94=20
evidence: many others including themselves have been spared of the same=20
misfortune. This evidence is supported by the largest cases in the =
community.=20
Sometimes the=20
=93scientifically-proven=94 evidence is hardly evidence since the =
farmers have no=20
means of evaluating it. Medical and chemicals experts may warn that the=20
chemicals-induced ailments may later result in debilitating ailments =
such as=20
cancers or neurological irregularities; the farmers have no basis for =
discerning=20
the potentials for these serious ailments among the =93common health =
problems=94=20
such as headache or skin irritation which =93chemicals poisonings=20
can mimic=94[vii]at=20
their early stages.
This=20
lack of =93empirical evidence=94 can be spotted in other areas of =
choices. In=20
Vietnam as in Lao PDR, the informants often speak of investment of their =
surplus=20
asset in the children=92s education. The evidence behind what appears to =
be a sure=20
sign of the farmers=92 taking a rational course action to improve the =
life of=20
their children, however, is not about the possible outcome of the =
action, but=20
about the consequences of foregoing the action. The most frequent =
replies to my=20
inquiry is: =93I don=92t want my children to have such a difficult life =
like mine,=20
like any farmer=92s.=94
Nation-wide =
efforts=20
since 1986 to transform their planned to market-oriented economies have=20
multiplied Vietnamese and Lao farmers=92 reliance on their own =
=93empirical=94=20
evidence over the evidence devised by somebody else. The efforts have =
filled=20
their living environment with more causes of uncertainty, and thus any =
action=20
would inevitably present risks. In both countries, restrictions on =
domestic=20
trade of agricultural products have been lifted, the farmers are now =
allowed to=20
own, concede, and even inherit the right to cultivate farm land for the =
duration=20
nearing the length of one generation virtually instituting the private =
ownership=20
of land, and the access to technology and other agricultural input has =
been=20
opened up for their foreign manufacturers.
All=20
of these may have helped improve the overall environment for the =
farmers=92 action=20
to take advantage of the market opportunities for their product. But one =
thing=20
is missing: the emerging world of market economy is an uncharted terrain =
where=20
there is little evidence that shifting their attention to a more=20
narrowly-defined concern with higher productivity can produce the =
expected=20
consequences. Within the purview of their life, there is more =
counter-evidence:=20
occasional visits to Ho Chi Minh City or to Hanoi for a Phu Cat farmer =
are the=20
occasions to witness what have become of the surplus labor that the =
improved=20
agricultural sector in rural Vietnam has produced--the rise of an =
=93informal=20
sector.=94
The farmers =
who appear=20
to turn their deaf ears to the advancing market economy and refuse to =
tailor=20
their action accordingly do so not because they are ignorant or =
resisting=20
changes but because of the very efforts to act rationally within the =
conditions=20
that greatly influence their cognitive ability. With this limitation,=20
inconsistent behavior results from an unintended compromise among the =
efforts to=20
deal with multiple concerns: less than full satisfaction with one in =
return for=20
less than complete sacrifice on another.
[i]=20 World Bank=20 Data=20 http://data.worldbank.org/in= dicator=20 for the appropriate countries.
[ii] The =
background of this=20
essay are the rapid changes that two former planned economies of Lao PDR =
and=20
Vietnam are experiencing since mid-1980s. For a succinct discussion of =
these=20
changes please see, Pradumna B. Rana and Naved Hamid (1996).=20
[iii]=20
=93Vietnam=20
Food Safety and Agricultural Health Action Plan,=94 Document of World Bank, 2006, =
Report no.=20
35231 VN, p.xii.
[iv]=20 Liebenstein,=20 (1974).
[v] Clifford Geertz,=20
(1970).
[vi] Nguyen Khac =
Tung,=20
(1993, p.374).
[vii] Fn 9,=20
p.6