Abstract:
As the Rice being the staple food of Sri Lankans, paddy cultivation is one of the main agricultural
activities in Sri Lanka. Therefore, agrochemical usage is increasing despite of the paddy
production nearing a plateau. In this context, the aim of this research are to investigate the
impact of herbicide usage and awareness level on paddy productivity. Data was collected by
surveying 100 farmers adopting a stratified random sampling method. The Yala season data
encompassing the period from May to August in 2020 was recorded. The stochastic frontier
model was employed to determine the productivity. The Frontier 4.1 software was used to
estimate the parameters. To investigate the awareness level of the farmers regarding herbicide
usage, an index was developed based on a Likert scale questionnaire. With the result of the
awareness index, multiple linear regressions were used to estimate the effect of farmer
awareness level on health and environmental implications on paddy output. According to the
results of the estimation, herbicide cost did not show any statistical significant impact on paddy
productivity. The farming extent is positively significant and the family labor is negatively
significant among the other variables. The mean technical efficiency is 76% implying farmers are
still away from their technological frontier by 24%. The herbicide cost is significant at 1% level
in the cost function. According to the awareness index, all the farmers have a high awareness
level. However, according to the multiple regressions results, awareness level has no impact on
the paddy yield. These results imply that herbicide usage and the farmer awareness level on
health and environmental issues has no impact on paddy productivity in the Gampaha district.
As farmers show high level of awareness it can be leveraged to motivate them to adopt
sustainable farming practices. This could help to reduce the cost of production and preserve the
environment
