Abstract:
The growth of the agricultural sector is seen as
essential in developing countries [2]. De Silva et
al, (2007) classifies Sri Lanka as an agricultural
country because the majority of the rural people
are still engaged in agriculture for their main
livelihood and the principle agricultural produce
is paddy. Agrochemicals are key inputs in
agriculture for crop protection and better yield,
even though they are usually toxic and can pose
significant environmental risks as well as costly.
Padmajani et al., (2014), reported that Sri
Lankan farmers use stronger concentrations of
pesticides with increased frequency of
applications. According to Perera et al., (2016),
several agricultural chemicals have been
reported to contain toxic trace (heavy metals,
mainly Cd and As) elements in Sri Lanka.
Further, all paddy farmers utilize different types
of agrochemicals to expect high yields.
Sammanthurai is one of the leading areas in
paddy farming in the Ampara district [5]. At this
background, our study focused on analyzing
certain heavy metals in the canal water, which
runs through the paddy fields at Malkampiddy,
where intense paddy cultivation is taking place
for two seasons per year.
