Research Publications

Now showing 1 - 3 of 3

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Social and Economic Effects of the Cultivation of Solanum Virginianum; A Case Study in Anamaduwa DS Division, Sri Lanka
(Faculty of Humanities and Sciences, SLIIT, 2022-09-15) Siriwardena, B. P; Vidanapathirana, N. P; Ketipearachchi, K. G; Rajasekara, L. R. W. D. M
Solanum virginianum is a plant which belongs to the Solanaceae family that is used for medicinal purposes. This plant is rather widespread in Sri Lanka and the advantages of farming these plants might either be for economic or for social purposes. In none of the research that has been undertaken so far has the significance of these socioeconomic outcomes been highlighted. Consequently, this study's objective is to investigate the economic and social implications of farmers' cultivation of Solanum virginianum. For the study, seventy (70) farmers who cultivate Solanum virginianum were selected from the Anamaduwa Divisional Secretariats Division in Sri Lanka's Northwestern Province. Using a stratified random sampling technique, all respondents in the sample were requested to complete a pretested, standardized questionnaire form. Qualitative data was gathered by using a a fivepoint Likert scale ranging from strongly disagree to strongly agree. Most farmers are male, between the ages of 41 and 50, and they possess a high school diploma. In addition, many of them are married. Farmers in the region rely not just on the production of Solanum virginianum, but also on a variety of other crops, and many farmers in the sample have extremely low incomes. The study determined that when economic and sociological elements were integrated, the dependent variables did not produce statistically significant outcomes. In addition, the between-subject effects of economic and social factors seen during Solanum virginianum production were not statistically significant. Therefore, the authorized individuals should be concerned with these effects to increase the cultivation of Solanum virginianum for the Sri Lankan medicinal industry.
Embargo
A Smart Aquaponic System for Enhancing The Revenue of Farmers in Sri Lanka
(IEEE, 2022-10-19) Ekanayake, D; de Alwis, P; Harshana, P; Munasinghe, D; Jayakody, A; Gamage, N
Sri Lanka's agricultural sector confronts serious challenges from fertilizer shortages and agriculture-related chemical scarcity. Innovations comparable to aquaponic systems may be offered to Sri Lankan farmers to overcome these difficulties using IoT and ML technology. This research scope is to implement a smart and secure aquaponic environment monitoring system to forecast plant and fish growth factors, provide Sri Lankan farmers with insights into the environment's behaviors, and take measures according to the predictions utilizing control mechanisms. In this research, more exact predictions have been generated by the Random Forest algorithm model rather than the LSTM model, and most of the investigated parameters given good accuracy according to the absolute mean error (Media TDS-1.95, Media pH-0.06, Media Temperature-0.49, Env. Temperature- 0.94, Env. Humidity-2.70) except the environment light intensity (64.11). The ML solution studied in this research paper would increase the quality of traditional agriculture in Sri Lanka for greater productivity and economic benefit.
Open Access
The Effects of Natural Disasters: A Study to Sustain Paddy and other Seasonal Crop Farmers in Sri Lanka
(DEPARTMENT OF ECONOMICS AND STATISTICS FACULTY OF ARTS, UNIVERSITY OF PERADENIYA, 2019-10) Deshapriya, R. D. N. L; Lakpriya, K. A. D. L; Pathiraja, P. M. D. G. T; Wijesiri, P. G. N. A. H; Jayathilaka, R
The United Nations (UN) Development Programme set out seventeen sustainable development goals (SDGs) to be achieved by the UN member countries in 2030. One such goal, SDG 8 is about decent work and economic growth, where the agriculture sector can play a wider role for economic growth by reducing unemployment in the country. Worldwide, various factors can adversely affect many occupations, especially with unfavorable effects on those engaged therein. Previous researchers have shown that natural disasters cause impacts in terms of income volatility, particularly negative income shocks regardless of the cause whereas risks force households in developing countries to lower their expenditure on health and education. Mottaleb et al. (2013) identified natural disasters impacting on household income and expenditure volatilities in Bangladesh as well. Ministry of Disaster Management (DM) in Sri Lanka identifies flood and drought as the major types of natural disasters affecting Sri Lanka (Karunarathna and Athukorala, 2018). Nevertheless, Tsunami has also been a major issue in the recent past. Its likelihood of occurrence is rather small, but it causes high damage. Ancient Sri Lanka was a country with selfsufficiency. Currently, an open market economy, Sri Lanka’s dependency is higher on imports, partly due to insufficient local production. In addition, over the years cultivation has declined due to various reasons. The International Trade Administration (2018) states that in Sri Lanka, over 25% are employed in the agricultural sector, which contributes 6.9 % to Gross Domestic Production (GDP). This indicates the magnitude of any adverse impacts to the agricultural sector. In Malaysia, Hein (2019) discussed the response to extreme disasters and climate change when the government intervenes to mitigate same and spread awareness of climate changes. However, in Sri Lanka no long term plan is in place to mitigate or at least minimize the effects of natural disasters, which can lead to inequalities in the population. The findings/results of this study can assist Sri Lanka to initiate policies to reduce inequality among farmers, and thereby improve and sustain the agricultural practices in Sri Lanka; and thus to achieve SDG 8 as set out by the UN.

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