Banning of Glyphosate and its Impact on Paddy Cultivation: A study in Ratnapura District in Sri Lanka

Purpose: It is high time to study the impacts of banning of glyphosate in paddy (rice) cultivation in the country as it is important in many aspects of the economy. The quantity of glyphosate has been in use far exceeds the total of all other pesticides especially for paddy cultivation. The government banned glyphosate in order to save Sri Lanka’s agricultural sector especially farmers from the chronic kidney disease (CKD). This unexpected situation has created problems for farmers. This study was conducted to assess the impacts of banning of glyphosate for paddy cultivation in Ratnapura district.

Research Method: Ratnapura district was selected as the research area because paddy cultivation has been conducted in many Divisional Secretarial divisions of it. A Sample of 100 paddy farmers was randomly selected and data was collected using a field survey from June to November in 2017. Descriptive statistics and paired t-tests were used to analyze the data.

Findings: Results revealed that most of the paddy farmers are male farmers and they are at their middle ages. They have a significant level of education. However, most of them have very small size farm lands and their monthly income is very low. Furthermore, majority of them have a good understanding about positive and negative aspects of glyphosate. Moreover, some farmers are spending much on other herbicides due to unavailability of glyphosate. Hence, there is a significant difference in cost spent for herbicides before and after banning glyphosate. While some farmers are moving away from farming, some farmers are turning to use cultural practices.

Originality/ Value: Farmers wish to move away from glyphosate if they have a suitable alternative. But at the moment they are facing problems due to unavailability of alternatives for glyphosate. So that, finding for a better alternative for the glyphosate is a felt need.