As you are aware, it is the rainy season; and farmers are up to the task again, tendering their crops and ensuring that they are protected from pests and diseases.
Last weekend, Wart Hog visited a friend of his, who happens to be a farmer.
It so happened that while at the friend’s farm, Wart Hog accompanied his friend and the farm attendant to a maize field.
While on the way to the maize field; Wart Hog noticed that the field attendant had carried some salt.
When Wart Hog asked what the salt was for. The field attendant told him that he was going to use it to chase away some animals called N’kono that were eating the geminating maize.
Upon reaching the maize field, Wart Hog realised that the field attendant was actually referring to snails.
The turn of events rather dismayed Wart Hog. This week’s edition of the Wart Hog will thus look at snails and how they can be of benefit to mankind.
In a field called taxonomy, scientists categorise snails under the Kingdom, Animalia; Phylum, Mollusca; and Class, Gastropoda. Snails though popularly known for their destructive tendencies such as feeding on the tender leaves of crops such as maize and carrying parasitic worms responsible for bilharzia; snails can be relevant to mankind in the following ways:
Snails have medicinal value
According to the University of Saskatchewan website, snails are used as a raw material in deriving syrup that can be utilized for treatment of ulcers, bronchitis and asthma.
In some foreign cultures, snails are a delicacy
In countries such as France, Greece, Philippines, Spain and Ghana; certain species of snails are reared for human consumption. The practice of rearing snails for food is called heliciculture.
For purposes of cultivation, the snails are kept in a dark place in a wired cage with dry straw or dry wood. Coppiced wine-grape vines are often used for this purpose. During the rainy period the snails come out of hibernation and release most of their mucus onto the dry wood/straw. The snails are then prepared for cooking.
Snails are used in the cosmetic industry
Skin creams derived Helix Aspersasnails are used for use on wrinkles, scars, dry skin and acne.
Research suggests that secretions produced by these snails under stress might facilitate regeneration of wounded tissue.
Those are some of the ways snails can be of benefit to humanity.
Getting back to the story of Wart Hog and the farm attendant; Wart Hog reminded the farm attendant that in as much as land snails were a pest, they provided food for other pests such birds.
A more sustainable approach would be using concentrated garlic solution.
In the case of fruit trees, placing a copper band around the tree trunk would effectively prevent snails from climbing the tree and reaching its foliage.
This approach would ensure crop pests such as birds have alternative food while at the same time preventing snails from destroying the crop.
Moreover, human activity can lead to extinction of biodiversity.
Extinction of snails would be disastrous not only to the ecology but to the pharmaceutical and food industries.
Moreover, in contemporary speech, the expression “a snail’s pace” is often used to describe a slow, inefficient process would no longer be as meaningful as it is today.
For your comments and queries on this article, contact the Wildlife and Environmental Conservation Society of Zambia, P.O Box 30255, Lusaka or Email:wecsz@coppernet.zm You can also call us on 0211 251630.
