Lankan farmers at risk of using highly hazardous agrochemicals

By Ifham Nizam

The Centre for Environmental Justice (CEJ) yesterday said that the latest study by the Pesticide Action Network (PAN) had revealed that Sri Lankan farmers were at a risk of using highly hazardous agrochemicals.

CEJ Research Scientist Chalani H. Rubesinghe yesterday said that according to the Code of conduct on pesticide management, highly hazardous pesticides meant chemicals presenting high levels of acute or chronic hazards to health or environment according to internationally accepted classification systems of the WHO or Global Harmonized System (GHS) or their listing in relevant binding international agreements or conventions.

In addition, pesticides that appear to cause severe or irreversible harm to health or the environment under conditions of use in a country may be considered to be and treated as highly hazardous”.The study followed the stratified convenience sampling method, using 367 individuals engaged in Paddy, Vegetable, Maize, Fruit, Exotic crops, ornamental plants, Spices, and Tea cultivations in 09 districts of Sri Lanka.

According to the data gathered in this survey, there were seven (7) pesticides used among farmers that are listed under the PAN International List of Highly Hazardous Pesticides.Captan is a common and popular fungicide which was used in several crop categories. Marshal 20 is another popular insecticide among farmers. However, most of the farmers were unaware of the names of the agrochemicals they use (they commonly called all pesticides as Panubeheth) or were reluctant to reveal the names. Thus, the percentage use revealed in this study may not imply the actual percentage used by farmers of these agrochemicals.

The survey also revealed that farmers did not follow the recommended dose in practice therefore, it was difficult to collect data on volumes used. Mixing two or more pesticides to obtain high efficiency was a common practice and they were unaware of the potential harmful effects of this practice, on themselves as well as on the environment.

The prevalence of Kidney problems among farmers is a well-known fact, which was also revealed in this study. However, one of the interesting findings in this survey was the prevalence of Asthma among paddy, vegetable, tea, maze and fruit cultivators . Although it could be related to pollen in maize cultivation, the relationship of the disease to the other cultivations needs to be further studied to identify any potential relationship to the use of agrochemicals. In addition, Diabetes, low back pain, cancers, and headaches were also among short-term and long-term health issues encountered among farmers.