Food for thought and sustenance

THE most common measures adopted around the world to combat the novel coronavirus pandemic are various forms or degrees of lockdowns, curfews and other restrictions placed on individuals in order to minimize physical contact and thereby ( hopefully) stop further transmission of and subsequent infection from the coronavirus. Of course, as with a large part of epidemiology (the art and science of disease control), it is mostly about statistics. There is no foolproof measure to completely eradicate the viral infection, perhaps not even with the future, eventual introduction of the much-awaited vaccine. After all, more longknown diseases, such as malaria, which have been considered eradicated for a number of years, have resurfaced in recent years.

So, quarantining or sequestration is mostly just about, well, minimizing the risk of infection as there is no guarantee that you would not get infected just by staying home as you could not avoid getting into contact with those who have been out and about and thereby “exposed” more or the things that they touch. Similarly, venturing out of your home compound does not necessarily mean you would get infected; just that as you go out, you inevitably will come into some sort of physical contacts with others, who might have been infected (sometimes without their knowledge), or with the things that they touched, sometimes many times over.

For the well- to- do, it would appear that being placed under movement restriction measures have not significantly affected their erstwhile lavish lifestyles, judging from, for example, the mouthwatering dishes that they continue to enjoy from their wellstocked (and freshly and amply replenished) kitchens which they feel compelled to publicly share on their social media platforms, to the drooling envy of not only their close friends but sundry others too. And of course there is plenty of empty space within their capacious home compounds for them to exercise and just roam around in general. For those less blessed socioeconomically, home confinements would often mean having to squeeze together with a number of family members in much constricted spaces, such that sometimes I wonder if physical distancing is still meaningful in such circumstances.

As we watch from television and social media, some who are more musically or at least vocally talented, would resort to jamming or playing bands or just singing aloud from the “comfort” of their apartment balconies, perhaps also to vent some of their pent-up frustration. These and similar scenes from the streets and neighborhood across Italy, for example, during the height of their pandemic and especially high death rate, warmed the hearts of many across the world. But, frankly, we could not afford to reach out to them, as many of us in developing countries have to worry about our own socioeconomic well-being.

Indeed, the pandemic and the ensuing lockdowns have laid bare, perhaps more than ever, the shortcomings of our socioeconomic safety nets. Unemployment rates were admittedly already high in many developed countries even before the pandemic, and the pandemic made it even worse. But they typically have unemployment benefits to tide them over, sometimes over months or even years. And during the lockdowns, these governments would subsidize the wages to be paid by small and medium enterprises to their employees to levels of up to 80 percent. So, the high taxes (sometimes over half of wages paid) typically imposed in these jurisdictions may be arguably well worth it, as the taxes are akin to insurance premiums which would pay out the benefits in rainy days.

As I argued before, taking into account all the costs of corruption and inefficiency, the total “taxes” paid in many developing countries are no less exacting as those paid in many developed countries. Yet we apparently do not get our money’s worth. The money often goes to lining the pockets of those who can do so (to put it mildly and politely), who often proceed to stash them, ironically, in the developed countries. The same old tunes of anti-corruption, improving bureaucratic efficiency and poverty eradication have been sung time and again across many developing countries over at least the last half century, but have also fallen largely on deaf ears.

In the rush to industrialization which many tout as the panacea for solving socioeconomic difficulties and in order to accommodate bulging urban populations, environments were seriously degraded, bringing about both natural catastrophes and, yes, diseases. The pandemic and the lockdowns afforded us perhaps some time to reflect upon our lifestyles and life choices. Perhaps they also inform us that life preservation and selfsufficiency are some of the most fundamental requirements. People rush to cities or even work overseas because they are seeking what they perceive to be “better” livelihood brought about by ( hopefully) more gainful. Conversely, if people could find more productive livelihood in the rural areas, then not only the rural folks would stay put where they were born and raised, but urban folks would also rush in to seek work, which are scarcer during and after the pandemic.

And the abundance of fertile soil and sunshine and rain in tropical areas where most developing countries are located, is in stark contrast with the bleak climatic conditions elsewhere. So we have to learn to be self-sufficient at least in our food supply. As I visited many temperate countries with what can only be described as barren wastelands for most of the year, I often could not help but think about the tall and green grass and fast-growing trees back home which actually require constant mowing and pruning. Imagine if we could only “smartly” plant many of these verdant landscapes with food-producing crops, not necessarily on a cash-crop scale, but at least enough to sustain our families or villages, then we would not have to fork out precious cash to import food items from overseas and, ironically, from precisely those places where the barren wastelands were smartly planted with so much food crops in such short periods that they could actually export those food items. We need food for thought and sustenance.