The Hidden Threat in the Fields: How Snakebites Endanger Farmers and Food Security in Africa

A food-systems view of snakebite envenoming: who gets hurt, where it happens in farm landscapes, and why treatment access decides whether a bite becomes a household crisis.

AFHA: Food systems & labor

AFHA: Rural risk

Primary: WHO (Sep 12, 2023)

Africa lead statistic: treatment-needed bites

Figure 1. WHO estimates that in Africa, 435,000–580,000 snakebites each year need treatment; agricultural workers and children are among the most affected.^[1]

Hook: a hidden farm hazard that can erase a harvest

In Africa, the World Health Organization estimates 435,000–580,000 snakebites each year need treatment.^[1] That number lands hardest in rural areas, where farming is work done close to grass, brush, irrigation edges, and storage spaces—and where a clinic may be far away.

WHO describes snakebite envenoming as a neglected public health issue in tropical and subtropical regions and states that bites by venomous snakes can cause paralysis, bleeding disorders, kidney failure, and tissue damage that can lead to permanent disability and limb amputation.^[1]

Why this is a food-systems crisis (bite → disability → missed harvest)

A venomous bite becomes “envenoming” when venom enters the body and causes illness. WHO reports that globally, about 5.4 million people are bitten each year, with 1.8–2.7 million cases of envenoming and 81,410–137,880 deaths annually; permanent disabilities occur on a large scale as well.^[1] In rural economies, disability is not an abstract outcome: it is missing hands in the field.

• Field contact → workers weed, harvest, clear brush, carry bundles, and step through low-visibility ground cover.
• Venom injury → WHO describes outcomes including paralysis, bleeding disorders, kidney failure, and tissue damage that can require amputation.^[1]
• Time lost → treatment travel + recovery removes labor during time-sensitive planting/harvest windows.
• Household shock → lost labor + costs of seeking care strain food supply and income in communities WHO identifies as poor, rural, and under-resourced.^[1]

WHO also notes that under-reporting is common because many victims never reach primary care facilities, which means the visible burden may be smaller than the real burden in rural areas.^[1]

High-risk zones where food and venom overlap

A) Savanna farm work: the field edge, the brush pile, the walking path

In the Nigerian savanna, snakebite envenoming is described as a major public health problem in rural communities. Habib (2013) identifies the saw-scaled/carpet viper (Echis ocellatus) as a leading cause of mortality and morbidity, with African cobras (Naja spp.) and puff adders (Bitis arietans) also important in this setting.^[2]

This is farm-risk in plain terms: when snakes rely on camouflage and people work by stepping, lifting, reaching, and clearing, the bite happens where the body meets the ground—feet, ankles, hands. WHO’s core point is that the worst outcomes are preventable when safe, effective antivenoms are accessible and used in time.^[1]

B) Wet-field agriculture: rice paddies, irrigation edges, and low visibility work

Wet-field labor concentrates exposure because people spend long periods in dense vegetation and at water edges where visibility is low and footing is unstable. A peer-reviewed review on global environmental change and snakebite burden discusses how land and water management can influence human–snake contact and includes rice paddy farming among risk-linked contexts cited in snakebite literature.^[3]

The food-system issue is timing: wet-field work is often done in seasonal windows. When envenoming causes disability—or when treatment requires long travel—labor is pulled from the exact period when the crop needs it most (planting, weeding, harvest). WHO’s burden framing places these events in rural settings where health systems and medical resources are often weakest.^[1]

C) Deforestation and land clearing: disturbed edges where encounters rise

Land-use change can shift where snakes live and where people meet them. The environmental-change review literature describes how habitat change and biodiversity loss can alter snake distribution and human exposure at local scales, which can increase encounter opportunities in specific places and seasons.^[3]

Evidence for a statistical deforestation–snakebite association has been documented in at least one country-specific study outside Africa.^[4] This archive entry uses that study as a documented example in its study setting and relies on the broader, peer-reviewed mechanism discussion to explain why new farmland edges and disturbed zones can matter—without claiming an Africa-wide causal link absent Africa-wide statistical evidence in the cited sources.^[3][4]

Figure 2. Post-harvest labor is a narrow window. WHO notes that snakebite causes deaths and “around three times as many amputations and other permanent disabilities” annually.^[1]

When the clinic is far — and antivenom is the difference between recovery and disability

WHO states that a highly effective treatment exists and that most deaths and serious consequences of snakebite are preventable if safe and effective antivenoms are more widely available and accessible.^[1] WHO also notes that antivenoms are on the WHO List of Essential Medicines and should be part of primary health care packages where snakebites occur.^[1]

The bottleneck is not only the vial: WHO describes challenges including preparing correct venoms for manufacture, limited regulatory capacity to assess quality and appropriateness, weak distribution policies, and poor data that makes estimating needs difficult—factors that can reduce production or increase prices.^[1]

Prevention and planning: treat snakebite like a seasonal agricultural risk

WHO describes that better outcomes require strategic placement of antivenoms, staff training, affordable safe antivenoms and equipment, and promotion of responsible health-seeking behaviors, but that poor geographic access and inadequate services in remote communities hinder appropriate treatment.^[1]

Food security planning usually treats drought, pests, and market shocks as predictable risks. In high-burden rural settings, snakebite belongs in that same category: it can remove labor during planting and harvest, create avoidable disability, and trigger household food and income shocks in the communities WHO identifies as most affected.^[1]

References

1. World Health Organization (WHO). “Snakebite envenoming” fact sheet (12 September 2023): Africa 435,000–580,000 bites needing treatment; global 5.4 million bites; 1.8–2.7 million envenomings; 81,410–137,880 deaths; disability burden; antivenom challenges and access. https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/snakebite-envenoming
2. Habib AG. “Public health aspects of snakebite care in West Africa: perspectives from Nigeria” (2013): Nigerian savanna context; Echis ocellatus, Naja spp., Bitis arietans identified as important causes of mortality/morbidity in that setting. https://jvat.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1678-9199-19-27
3. Martín G, et al. “Implications of global environmental change for the burden of snakebite” (2021): discusses land-use change mechanisms affecting exposure and includes rice paddy farming in risk-linked contexts in snakebite literature. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8254007/
4. Lee S, et al. “Association Between Deforestation and the Incidence of Snakebites…” (2025, non-Africa study setting): documents an association in the study setting (used here as an example only). https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11758619/