Abstract:
Majority of the rural population in Sri Lanka are engaged in agriculture and make a
significant contribution to the national economy. Use of pesticides has become
important in gaining maximum agricultural yield ensuring the plant protection. But
the indiscriminate usage and improper handling of pesticides have caused various
health risks among farming communities. Since the Uva province of Sri Lanka has
been recognized as one of the provinces with a heavy usage of pesticides, a surveybased study was carried out to enquire the knowledge and habit of pesticide usage
of the farmers in the area. The questionnaire survey was conducted using stratified
random sampling technique with 227 respondents in total. Results indicated that
92.07% of interviewed farmers are using pesticides in their agricultural practices
whilst 65.55% of them are handling more than one pesticide on a working day. Out
of the farmers who use pesticides, 27.27% were identified to exceed the
recommended dose. Only 32.54% are using head covers, 55.02% are using gloves,
53.11% are using masks, 56.94% are wearing long-sleeved shirts, 3.83% are using
safety boots, 32.54% are practicing the proper way of applying pesticides by walking
perpendicular to the wind direction during pesticide application. 52.15% of them
store mixed pesticides in their houses. According to above findings, most of the
farmers in Uva province do not adhere to the recommended safety practices during
pesticide handling and application. Hence, they are prone to have potential health
risks posed by pesticides due to the lack of knowledge on proper use, handling and
safety application of pesticides. This study revealed the importance of having proper
awareness programmes among farmers to reduce the potential hazards involved in
the usage of pesticides.
