Sri Lankan Farmers Research Articles

Perceptions on Indigenous Medicine, First Aid and Treatment of Snakebite among Sri Lankan Farmers

Since snakebite is a serious public health concern in Asia, one of the most affected countries is Sri Lanka. The incidence, species variety, clinical symptoms, and management of snakebite in Asia, with a focus on Sri Lanka, are all covered in this review paper. Many of the venomous snake species found in Asia are abundant and diverse. Snake bites are a typical occurrence, especially in rural areas where farming and encounters between humans and snakes are common. Numerous snake species, including the dangerous Russell’s viper and the spectacled cobra, are found in Sri Lanka specifically. Depending on the type of snake bitten and the amount of venom administered, different clinical symptoms might result from a snake bite. Pain, bruising, swelling, and systemic symptoms like nausea, vomiting, and paralysis are typical ones. Treatment that is given too slowly or not at all can result in fatal consequences. Antivenom delivery, wound care, and supportive measures are all essential components of managing snake bite cases effectively. However, obstacles including a lack of access to medical facilities and less availability of antivenom sometimes make it difficult to get treatment quickly, particularly in isolated places and concern about indigenous treatment as well. Public awareness campaigns, better healthcare facilities, and epidemiology research are only a few of the measures taken against snakebite in Sri Lanka. To lessen the number of snakebites in, government institutions, medical professionals, and international organizations must work together. Better antivenom medicines and improved preventive and treatment plans for snakebite in this area require more study and funding.International Journal of Human and Health Sciences Vol. 08 No. 02 Apr’24 Page: 116-125

Exploring The Use Of Modern Sources Of Information In Agriculture: Usage And Perception Of Sri Lankan Farmers

Sri Lanka has made many interventions to promote ICT in Sri Lankan agriculture over the last couple of decades but those initiatives have not been able to make a significant impact. This study explored the present level of use of modern information sources by the Sri Lankan farmers and their perceptions. Data were collected interviewing 275 vegetable farmers using a structured questionnaire. The findings showed that a high percentage of farmers use mobile phones (87 percent) but smartphone usage is significantly low (8 percent) due to the high cost, low functional abilities, operational difficulties, and poor reception. The usage rates of mobile mediated agri-information systems (13 percent) and the internet (9.5 percent) for accessing agriculture information were reported as very low. It further revealed that the majority of farmers believed that mobile phones (60 percent) and mobile mediated agri-information systems (65 percent) could be useful to access the required information for their farming activities. Further, the farmers disclosed their willingness to adapt (75 percent) and their confidence (77 percent) in the modern information sources. The study suggests facilitating the farmers to use smartphones by deploying necessary financial, technical, and emotional support which would promote the use of modern information sources.

Exploring the Use of Modern Sources of Information in Agriculture: Usage and Perception of Sri Lankan Farmers

Exploring the Use of Modern Sources of Information in Agriculture: Usage and Perception of Sri Lankan Farmers

Agriculture farming extension model for analysing climate change adaptation: A case study of Sri Lankan farmers

Abstract. Climate change and variability threaten the sustainability of agricultural and food production, especially in agrarian communities. In Sri Lanka, rainfall is expected to decline by almost 10% by the year 2050 and the largest increase in temperature can be experienced. Despite the potential risks of climate change on agricultural productivity, Sri Lanka does not have a dedicated policy to respond to climate change. Furthermore, there is a dearth of research done in Sri Lanka to provide an understanding of factors that shape farmers’ adaptation to climate change and institutional link to the adaptive capacity of farming households. In this study we have taken secondary data from the World Bank and Central Bank of Sri Lanka to show how the farming population decreased and deforesting occurred due to the urbanization as well as to low education of the farming community. The results show that the majority of farmers who have climate variability adaptation strategies in place are largely influenced by indigenous knowledge. Women and low-income earners are less likely to employ climate change adaptation strategies in order to improve their agricultural productivity. The results have implications that agricultural extension officers service is needed to keep them in the industry and introduce new foresting schemes to carbon deposit and finally reduce the urbanization process.

Farmers' attitude towards chemical leasing for sustainability and environmental protection

Despite recent calls for environmental protection, many countries rely heavily on agrochemicals for agricultural production. To limit the use of chemicals and enhance environmental health, the idea of chemical leasing has been put forth. This pilot project takes into account farmers' preferences for leasing agrochemicals. The goal of the study is to ascertain farmers' interest in chemical leasing and to recommend an appropriate agrochemical leasing strategy for Sri Lankan farmers. In this study, structural equation modeling was used to identify the components of the sustainability and environmental protection approaches, and principal component analysis was utilized to estimate the willingness variables. The paddy farmers in four village divisions in Homagama, in the west of Sri Lanka, were selected by random sampling method. The results obtained from the structural equation modeling revealed that farmers' concerns about the environment influenced their willingness to adopt chemical leasing. The business model's cost-effectiveness and environmental friendliness impacted the sustainability approach. According to the environmental protection approach, the farmers' opinions were influenced by variables including groundwater pollution and risks to the general public's health. The study describes a collaborative paradigm that focuses on profitability with a strong foundation in sustainability to implement agrochemical leasing.

Attitude of Vegetable Farmers in Galle District in Sri Lanka Towards Good Agricultural Practices (GAP)

Summary Vegetable farmers are facing a number of challenges including price fluctuations, production and marketing problems, low level of income etc. One strategy to overcome these problems is adoption of Good Agricultural Practices (GAP) in vegetable production. However, there is limited information regarding farmers’ awareness of GAP and its applications under the circumstances of farming in the country. Therefore, assessing farmers’ attitude is a timely requirement for directing farmers towards good agricultural practices. Thus, the objectives of the research were to assess the level of awareness of GAP program, relationship between socio-economic factors and awareness of GAP, farmers’ attitudes towards GAP program, factors affecting the willingness to adopt GAP program and the potentials and constraints in implementing GAP program in Galle District. A sample of 100 vegetable farmers in the district was selected through a multi-stage simple random sampling technique. Data were collected from March to July 2018, through a self-administered questionnaire survey and analyzed using descriptive statistics and chi-square test. The results revealed that the majority of vegetable farmers in the district were middle-aged males who had studied up to GCE ordinary level and they received a monthly income of 24000 LKR. Their age, gender, educational level and experience were significantly associated with the level of awareness of GAP program. However, despite their positive attitude towards GAP, most farmers were unwilling to take a risk to adopt GAP due to many issues such as lack of required inputs, capital, required field conditions, information and technical know-how. There are several potentials and also many constraints for implementing GAP in the district. Therefore, providing firstly better theoretical knowledge and then providing the main requirements will motivate more farmers to adopt GAP in their vegetable production procedures. Research studies related to application of GAP by Sri Lankan farmers are still at a lower level. This research thus will be useful for different stakeholders related to adoption of GAP in Sri Lanka.

Use of Weather Information by Sri Lankan Paddy Farmers: An Application of Theory of Planned Behaviour

Use of weather information by the Sri Lankan farmers is based on two information sources: traditional knowledge and agromet advisories provided by the Department of Meteorology through the Department of Agriculture. In this context the weather information use behaviour of Sri Lankan paddy farmers was investigated by using the theory of planned behaviour. The necessary data were collected through a pretested structured questionnaire administered with a multi-stage random sample of 900 farmers representing six districts in Sri Lanka. Two structural equation models (SEM) were built with respect to the two information systems. For both SEMs, the use frequency of information was considered as the behaviour, while subjective norm, perceived behaviour control, attitude and intention were considered as the behaviour specific beliefs. The structural validity of the questions and sample adequacy were separately checked for both SEM models. Results of the two SEM models showed significant (p<0.05) relationships for (1) attitude and intention, (2) attitude and behaviour, (3) subjective norm and intention, (4) perceived behavioural control and intention, and (5) intention and behaviour. It was revealed that the behavioural beliefs are important to determine the use of information systems. Therefore, the correct intervention is required to change or improve the existing behavioural beliefs when promoting weather information systems which are specifically designed against future climate turbulences.

The Effect of Anti-Browning Treatments for Fresh-Cut Guava Slices in Prevention of Browning during Dehydration

Purpose : Guava cultivations are spreading rapidly among Sri Lankan farmers, especially in dry zone. Surplus production is observed in certain months of the year. Dehydration can be used as an effective method to preserve the surplus. During dehydration, browning of guava impairs the quality of the final product. This experiment was carried out to find out the most effective browning inhibitor.Research Method : Four treatments were used prior to dehydration namely, Citric acid (CA), Ascorbic acid (AA), Sodium metabisulfite (SMS) and Blanching for 2 minute in 60 °C (BL) as twenty different combinations. The L*, a* and b* values, were recorded. Colour differences with fresh slices, total colour difference (TCD) and browning index (BI) were calculated.Findings : L*, a* and b* values were significantly different (P<0.05) among treatments. The lowest L* value difference was observed in CA 0.3% with BL (3.18±0.7). Lowest total colour difference and the lowest browning index were observed in blanching treatment followed by CA 0.3% with BL. Whereas the highest TCD was in control sample (21.86 ± 2.75) and the highest BI was in SMS 0.5% with BL (55.38±8.59). Results revealed that out of the treatments under study, BL only and CA 0.3% with BL were the most effective solutions to overcome the browning of guava during dehydration.Originality/ Value : Research findings could be used in guava dehydration industry to preserve the colour and visual quality of the dehydrated products which will increase the consumer acceptability and demand thereby reducing postharvest losses.

Evaluation of best management practices with greenhouse gas benefits for salt-affected paddy soils in South Asia

Anthropogenic climate change has caused increased soil salinity in South Asia due to saltwater intrusion caused by sea level rise, input of fertilizers with high salt index, and irrigation malpractices, etc. Salinity has a multitude of impacts on plant and soil processes, leading to alterations in gas fluxes and rice productivity. The remedial measures adopted on salt-affected soils to reduce the salinity effect could enhance future climate change if they cause an increase in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. This study was conducted to find the best agricultural management practices (BMPs) for salt-affected soils in rice cropping systems (i.e. the major cropping system in Asia) in four South Asian countries (Sri Lanka, India, Bangladesh and Pakistan) considering net GHG emissions and other socioeconomic benefits associated with the adopted measures. The salinity-affected sites were selected based on available information (e.g. agricultural statistics and maps). Site-level measurements on soil parameters and GHG emissions were made in control- and managed plots and farmer surveys were conducted. Although organic amendments ameliorated salinity, it could cause a net increase in carbon dioxide or methane emissions depending on the soil conditions, particularly during the initial stages. This impact could be ameliorated by combining organic amendments with other management practices. In the Indo-Gangetic region, poor soil drainage causing anaerobic conditions favoured nitrous oxide emission under low to medium salinity. Yield losses and emissions in high salinity sites were controlled through organic amendment, irrigation and rice-fallow cropping sequence. The combination of transplanting of rice seedlings, the addition of organic matter, and intermittent irrigated water levels was identified as the BMP for Sri Lankan farmers. The outcome of this project will be used to raise awareness among farmers and policymakers.

Risk taking and sharing when risk exposure is interdependent

Using a specially designed experiment, we investigate whether and how interdependence in risk exposure, i.e., risk taking by some members of a potential risk sharing group affecting not only their own but also their co-members' risk exposure, affects both risk taking and ex post sharing. The experimental subjects were Sri Lankan small-holders who face interdependent risk and share when neighbors fall on hard times in everyday life. We find that the Sri Lankan farmers reward socially responsible risk taking and, under some circumstances, punish socially irresponsible risk taking. Their behavior is consistent with socially responsible risk taking being cost-dependent, although, here, the statistical evidence is inconclusive. Finally, social responsibility in risk taking and ex post sharing do not appear to be substitutes, rather, they appear to be co-determined.

Farmers’ Attitude Towards Organic Agriculture: A Case of Rural Sri Lanka

Summary Organic agriculture has the potential to reduce the negative impacts of conventional agricultural practices and enhance rural economic development. Since research on Sri Lankan farmers’ attitude towards organic agriculture has been rare, this research aims to explore the farmers’ viewpoint on organic agriculture. Two main rural districts were purposely selected for this investigation since these districts have a high potential for organic agriculture. Two Divisional Secretariat (DS) divisions from each district and 75 farmers from the farming community of each DS division were randomly selected to form a sample of 300 farmers. Data were collected from July 2017 to April 2018 and analyzed using descriptive statistics and binary logistic regression. The results revealed that a majority of the farmers (74%) were well-aware of organic agriculture and agricultural extension programs, while training was the primary information source in both districts. As per the mean analysis, the farmers had a positive attitude towards health-related and environmental protection aspects. However, they had a negative attitude towards the complexity of organic agriculture and unavailability of a suitable market for organic products. Results of the binary logistic regression revealed that the education level of the farmers significantly affect their attitude towards organic agriculture. The availability of traditional knowledge and technology relevant to organic agriculture, favorable climatic condition, and some government support were the main potentials, while labor intensiveness was the main challenge. Thus, creating better marketing facilities for organic products, providing the required amenities for producing organic food, processing, and value addition will promote organic agriculture among more farmers, supporting sustainable development.

Design for Empowerment: Empowering Sri Lankan Farmers through Mobile-based Information System

We developed a mobile-based information system (MBIS) to empower users to improve their livelihood activities. To do so, we first developed an empowerment framework (since one does not exist) as a basis to develop the MBIS. In particular, we conducted this research to solve an agriculture over-production problem in Sri Lanka where farmers remain trapped in a poverty cycle. They cannot make informed decisions due to lack of access to timely, context-based actionable information to achieve a good revenue. We had to generate some essential information such as current production level in real-time by capturing farmers’ decisions such as what and how much to grow. For this purpose, we needed to empower farmers to actively engage them in informed decision-making process through the MBIS. In evaluating the impact of the MBIS, we found a statistically significant positive change in farmers’ empowerment levels based on measuring self-efficacy, sense of control, and motivation before and after they used the application. Commercial organizations have since adopted this mobile-based system in India and Sri Lanka to solve agricultural problems, in universities Africa to mitigate hidden hunger, and the Corporative Research Center in Australia to develop digital health applications to manage chronic diseases, which indicates the approach’s wide adoptability.

Factors Influencing the Purchase of Agro-Chemicals: from the Perspective of Sri Lankan Farmers

This study investigates the buying behavior of farmers towards agrochemical products which is considered as highly important for a healthy food concept. The key objective of the study is to investigate the key factors that influence and determine the buying behavior of farmers towards agro-chemicals. Questionnaire survey was conducted from 292 farmers selected by a convenient sampling in the district of Ampara, Sri Lanka. The multiple linear regression was used to achieve the objective of the study. The present study found that attitude, perceived availability, perceived price and product knowledge, word-of-mouth communication were significantly affecting the buying behavior of farmers towards agro-chemicals. Hence, the agrochemical marketers and dealers should formulate strategies to influence the buying behaviour of the farmers through effective marketing communications and made availabilities of agrochemical products in the market. This scenario would lead the agro-chemical consumers to avoid any irresponsible buying behaviors. This research is an opportunity and an eye-opener for marketers to increase their contribution towards agrochemical business and fulfill the demand for agrochemicals without any harm to the society and the environment.

Determinants of crop diversification in rice-dominated Sri Lankan agricultural systems

Climate-driven changes in water availability in tropical agricultural systems will force many farmers to significantly alter their cultivation practices. In agricultural systems dominated by water-intensive rice cultivation, farmers may need to diversify away from rice to crops that perform better in the new climate. We combine data from interviews and household surveys with Sri Lankan farmers to identify the factors that influence farmers’ decisions to diversify away from rice monoculture. Results indicate that many farmers cannot diversify because of the characteristics of their fields, including elevation, soil quality, irrigation infrastructure, and relative position within an irrigation system. As a result, policies that assume all farmers are able to engage in diversification are unlikely to have the desired impact. Of the farmers whose fields can support diversification, poor market access, market instability, limited government support, and relatively high input costs reduce diversification rates. In addition to creating a supportive institutional environment for the cultivation of other field crops, leveraging existing water management institutions to identify and support farmers with fields suitable to diversification could decrease agricultural water demands and increase water access for farmers unable to engage in diversification.

Developing a community-based knowledge system: a case study using Sri Lankan agriculture

The Agriculture sector plays a vital role in Sri Lanka’s economy. Not having an agricultural knowledge repository that can be easily accessed by people in agriculture community in Sri Lanka within their own context, is a major problem. As a solution, a large user centred ontology for Sri Lankan farmers was developed to provide required information/knowledge not only in a structured and complete way, but also in a context-specific manner. Since this problem is not only limited to farmers, we extend this for every one working in the agriculture domain. We validate the ontology in terms of accuracy and quality. The online knowledge base based on the ontology with a SPARQL endpoint was created to share and reuse the domain knowledge that can be queried based on user context. A Mobile based application and a Web based application were developed to provide information/knowledge by using this ontology. These applications are also used to evaluate the ontology by getting the feedbacks from users to the knowledge in the ontology. It is very difficult to maintain a large complex ontology. To maintain our ontology, we identified various processes that are required to develop and maintain ontology as a collaborative process. A semi-automatic end-to-end ontology management system was developed to manage the developed ontology and the knowledge base. It provides the facilities to reuse, share, modify, extendand prune the ontology components as required. The facilities to capture users’ information needs and search domain information in user context are also included. In this paper, we present a summary of the overall development process of the ontology including the end-to-end ontology management system.

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User centered ontology for Sri Lankan farmers

Farmers in Sri Lanka are badly affected by not being able to get vital information required to support their farming activities in a timely manner. Some of the required information can be found in government websites, agriculture department leaflets, and through radio and television programs on agriculture. This knowledge is not reaching the farmers due to its unstructured, incomplete, varied formats, and lack of targeted delivery methods. Thus finding the right information within the context in which information is required in a timely manner is a challenge. The information and knowledge needs to be provided not only in a structured and complete way, but also in a context-specific manner. For instance, farmers need agricultural information within the context of location of their farm land, their economic condition, their interest and beliefs, and available agricultural equipment. To investigate some of the underlying farmer centric research challenges an International Collaborative Research Project to develop mobile based information systems for people in developing countries has been launched. Farmer centered ontology was developed as part of this project. Agricultural information has strong local characteristics in relation to climate, culture, history, languages, and local plant varieties. These local characteristics as well as the need to provide information in a context-specific manner made us develop this user centered ontology for Sri Lankan farmers. Because of the complex nature of the relationships among various concepts we selected an ontological approach that supports description logic to create the knowledge repository. For this we developed a new approach to model the domain knowledge to meet particular access requirements of the farmers in Sri Lanka. Through this approach, we have investigated how to create a knowledge repository of agricultural information to respond to user queries taking into account the context in which information is needed by farmers at various stages of the farming life cycle. The Delphi Method and the OOPS! (web-based tool) were used to validate the ontology. Initial system was trialed with a group of farmers in Sri Lanka. The online knowledge base with a SPARQL endpoint was created to share and reuse the domain knowledge that can be queried based on farmer context.

Awareness and perceptions on prevention, first aid and treatment of snakebites among Sri Lankan farmers: a knowledge practice mismatch?

BackgroundSnakebite is a global health problem associated with high morbidity and mortality. In Sri Lanka, snakebite is mainly an occupational health hazard associated with farming. Understanding awareness and perceptions in risk populations on the preventive measures, first aid and treatment for snakebite becomes pivotal in designing snakebite prevention and control programs. Using an investigator assisted self completed questionnaire, we assessed the awareness and perceptions of 176 part-time and full-time, Chena and paddy farmers from three dry zone districts of Sri Lanka where agriculture is the main economic activity.FindingsHigh percentages of the participants were aware of practices that minimize snakebites in houses and outside, available treatments and most of the recommended first aid measures. Western medical treatment was preferred by the vast majority of the farmers over the traditional treatment.ConclusionSome of the protective measures that the farmers were aware of are not practiced generally in Sri Lanka, suggesting a knowledge-practice mismatch. We suggest studies to understand the effects of socioeconomic and cultural determinants on snakebite prevention in Sri Lanka.

Performance Evaluation of Four Wheel Tractor Driven High Capacity Combined Paddy Thresher

Lower performances of traditional threshing methods, labour shortage, reduced turn-around time and use of high yielding varieties have inevitably forced farmers to shift into mechanical grain threshing. Recently introduced four-wheel tractor driven high capacity combined paddy thresher gained popularity among Sri Lankan farmers. However, this thresher has not been properly evaluated. This study evaluated the field performances and economics of this thresher and monitored the emission of chaff and dust to compare the commercial makes, grain types and operational conditions. This study was carried out in the North Central Province of Sri Lanka, during the Maha season of 2008/2009. Air monitoring on inhaled air was done by filtration technique, using special masks and surrounding environment by gravity techniques, using Polyurethane foam. As per the RNAM test code procedures, three commercial makes of high capacity combined paddy threshers were evaluated under different operational conditions for long and short grain paddy varieties with two replicates. The combined paddy threshers showed 1.8% damaged grain, 0.2% blown grains, 1.6% grain losses, 96.7% threshing recovery, 98.8% threshing efficiency, 90.7% cleaning efficiency, 1178 kg/h corrected output capacity and Rs. 2744 actual cost of threshing per metric ton of output at 14% moisture content. Though this thresher is suited for Sri Lankan conditions, it is associated with considerable amount of chaff and dust content such as; 2.04 mg/cm²/h in inhaled air and 35.59 mg/cm²/h in surrounding environment. The performance, economics and chaff and dust emission vary with make of the machine, grain type and operational conditions. Grain moisture is the most dominantly affected factor for the thresher performance. <strong>Keywords: </strong>Chaff; dust; paddy; threshing DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.4038/tar.v22i3.3700 <em>Tropical Agricultural Research </em>22(3) (2011) 273-281<em> </em>

Neurological symptoms among Sri Lankan farmers occupationally exposed to acetylcholinesterase-inhibiting insecticides.

In many agricultural districts in Sri Lanka, pesticide poisoning is a leading cause of death. This study aims to evaluate the impact of pesticide use on Sri Lankan farmers' health. A total of 260 subjects were surveyed in both a low and a high exposure period. Acetylcholinesterase activity was measured and data on symptoms were collected with questionnaires. Twenty-four percent of surveyed farmers had suffered at least once from acute pesticide poisoning. Farmers showed significantly more inhibition of cholinesterase activity than controls. Acute symptoms indicative for exposure to cholinesterase-inhibiting pesticides were associated with farming and a higher degree of cholinesterase suppression (more than 13% inhibition). Integrated Pest Management (IPM) training seemed to result in less insecticide use, and less cholinesterase inhibition. Our results suggest that occupational acetylcholinesterase-inhibiting insecticide exposures have a negative impact on Sri Lankan farmers' health. Overall reduction in pesticide use seems the best option to protect farmers from the adverse effects of pesticides.