MSc

ABSTRACT
“The place makes the poison” is a popular dictum by Paracelsus. But pollution
is no longer a matter confined to a locality, but is now a matter of global health concern.
It is a ubiquitous catastrophe that shows its range from household wastes to the
complex compounds released from industries. Health risks due to environmental
pollution are more likely to occur in developing countries. Increased prevalence of
autism, cancer, blue baby syndrome and other medically inexplicable diseases are the
consequences of pollution. Thus, it is of utmost importance to focus on the perspective
of farmers regarding environment, as they are often the most vulnerable to the dire
consequences of pollution.
The present research was conducted in Kerala Agricultural University. 90
farmers and 30 stakeholders comprising of Agricultural Officers, local governance
members, development personnel, NGO’s and General public were randomly selected
from the six Panchaths Puzhakkal, Alathur, Puthur, Pananchery, Nadathara and
Madakkathara. Independent and dependent variables were selected after discussing
with experts, major advisor and previous literature. Data was collected by using
interview schedule.
The data was then scored, tabulated and presented using statistical instruments
like frequency, percentage, composite index, arithmetic mean, standard deviation, nonparametric
tests, factor analysis, regression and correlation.
A majority (38.88 per cent) farmer were younger than 40 years of age and high
percentage (47.77 per cent) of the farmers were graduates and above showing the high
literacy among farmers. Majority (43.33 per cent) of the selected farmers had a farming
experience of 10-20 years and forty per cent of the farmers were small farmers with
land holdings of 2.5-5 ha. Canal was the major water source used by the farmers to
carry out irrigation (38.8 per cent) and majority (42.22 per cent) of the farmers had their
farms at a distance of 1-3 km from an industrial area. A majority (45.5 per cent) farmer
had high mass media exposure.
The three major types of pollution seen in the farming systems were water
pollution, air pollution and soil pollution. All the selected six Panchayaths showed
moderate levels of water pollution, air pollution and soil pollution based on the scores
of the statements.
There were high differences in the ill effects of environmental pollution due to
agri-intensive cultivation, integrated farming system and threat to human health due to
certain farming system practices as experienced by the six Panchayaths as perceived by
all the stakeholders from the six Panchayaths using Kruskal Wallis Test. This shows
the heterogeneity of perception of the stakeholders about ill effects of environmental
pollution which may be a consequence of the different levels of exposure, sensitivity
and adaptive capacity of the farming systems towards the hazards.
From the study, it was revealed that 60 per cent of the farmers had medium
levels of awareness about the causes of environmental pollution, while a high majority
(82.22 per cent) had high awareness about the effects of pollution.
Vulnerability of a farming system to pollution depended on the exposure, sensitivity
and adaptive capacity of the farming system to potential environmental pollution
hazards. It was revealed from the study that Puzhakkal was the most vulnerable
Panchayath to pollution with a vulnerability index of 75.35, followed by Nadathara with
74.41, Puthur with 64.95, Pananchery with 63.08 amd Madakkathara with 52.55. The
least vulnerable Panchayath was Alathur at 48.88. Vulnerability increased with an
increase in exposure and sensitivity, while adaptive capacity negatively influenced
vulnerability.
The results of Principal Component Analysis revealed that the vulnerability
of all the six Panchayaths to environmental pollution could be best explained by 4
components.The highest total variance explained by the four components was in
Pananchery at 80.20 per cent, followed by Madakkathara at 73.74 per cent, Nadathara
at 72.69 per cent, Puzhakkal at 72.04 per cent, and Puthur at 70.90 per cent and Alathur
at 67.33 per cent.
Spearman’s Correlation Coefficient was used to assess the relation of
independent variables with vulnerability to pollution. It was found that age and
proximity of the farm to an industrial area were the factors that showed significant
correlation with vulnerability. Age was positively correlated while proximity of the
farm to an industrial area was negatively correlated.
Multinomial logistic regression was used to find the probability of a farming
system to attain low vulnerability and moderate vulnerability from high vulnerability.
Area of land holding and age of the farmer are found to be significant variables for
attaining low vulnerability. The probability of attaining low vulnerability by increasing
the area of land holding and age of the farmer by one unit was 85.81 and
24.5 per cent respectively.None of the variables showed significance for a farming
system to attain moderate vulnerability.
The inadequacy of waste disposal and waste recycling facilities was observed
by this study to be the most important constraint all the Panchayaths. Lack of mass
media contact and high cost of carrying out organic farming was reported to be the least
important constraint by the majority of farmers. The farmers also reported high
resurgence of pests and diseases in their farms.
According to the study, the suggestion that the farmers must utilize more of
mass media to know about environmental pollution and its detrimental effects was
considered as the most important by a majority of the farmers. Improving the
sanitization of the farms and living areas of the farmers was also considered an
important suggestion to the farmers. The least relevant suggestion according to the
farmers was the technological control of automobile pollution, as opined by the
majority farmers.
A discussion conducted with the stakeholders from all the six Panchayaths
comprising of Agricultural Officers, development personnels, local governance
members, NGO’s and the general public regarding Government schemes and legislative
policies revealed that all the stakeholders were aware of the soil health cards and the
implementation of biogas plants. Majority of the stakeholders were unaware of the
environmental legislative support and policies implemented for the year 2019-2020.