Pesticide Risks For Farmers In Sri Lanka: The Overlooked Gender Divide

March 4, 2025 CABI

04 March 2025, Sri Lanka: This month marks International Women’s Day. This year’s theme is ‘Accelerate Action’, calling for increased momentum and urgency to address gender barriers such as those to agricultural advice. Empowering women with knowledge and information enables them to reduce pesticide risks more effectively and swiftly. In this blog, we look at pesticide risks for women farmers in Sri Lanka.

The application of pesticides is common in agriculture. However, malpractices in use are widespread, and women are often affected in different ways to men. The PlantwisePlus pesticide risk reduction pathway seeks to reduce these risks. Research is critical for understanding how women are impacted and what action can be taken.

Researching gender and pesticide risks in Sri Lanka

More than 70% of Sri Lanka’s population live in rural areas and depend on agriculture for their livelihoods. Over 40% of the farming workforce are women. This means thousands of women (and men) are exposed to pesticide risks.

When it comes to managing crop pests in smallholdings, research shows that heads of households – whether female or male – are usually the ones to make decisions about pesticide use. However, women’s exposure to pesticides and associated risks has not been researched in as much depth. To help fill the knowledge gap about women and pesticide application, CABI analyzed gender differences and risks in Sri Lanka. In 2024, the Industrial Services Bureau (ISB) published a report for CABI on the gendered aspects of pesticide risk in Sri Lanka.

ISB conducted a survey of 1,500 farmers (1,046 males and 454 females). To collect qualitative data for the study, they held focus group discussions with farmers and community leaders. ISB also conducted interviews with stakeholders, including:

the Department of Agriculture
the Department of Agrarian Development
agriculture instructors, and
agrochemical dealers

What did the research reveal?

The research revealed that farmers had reported using some highly hazardous pesticides and that most of the other pesticides used by farmers require risk mitigation. Only people who have received the proper training should use these products. Users must also have access to high-quality personal protective equipment (PPE). The equipment must be worn for mixing, loading, handling, application and clean-up. A relatively low proportion of the pesticides that farmers reported using were low-risk products.

Focusing on gender

In relation to gender, the report revealed that in Sri Lanka, men, rather than women, make most of the decisions about pesticide application. This includes pesticide selection, time of application and the sourcing of information. Moreover, the study revealed that men’s involvement in pesticide application is significantly higher than women’s. It is worth noting that men and women smallholders often spray pesticides themselves as they cannot afford to hire professionals.

However, women in 24% of the surveyed households play a supporting role in pesticide application. Within this supporting role, they mainly focus on spray tank handling, pesticide mixing and pesticide storing. They also handle undiluted pesticides prior to mixing, which is one of the riskiest steps. The health risks for these activities are high because a low percentage of women use the necessary PPE for these tasks. For example, women only use gloves 19% of the time for pesticide mixing and 12% of the time for pesticide storing.

Use of appropriate PPE is critical to safe pesticide handling. The study uncovered some interesting results. While the use of certain types of PPE, like face masks, is prevalent among men and women during pesticide application, far fewer use the full range of PPE. The assessment found that men and women who apply pesticides bear a considerable risk through dermal exposure to chemical products because the majority of them do not use goggles, jackets or full kits.

However, women do tend to wear more PPE than men overall. The study confirmed that 62% of women whose main role is pesticide application wear face masks. For men, this figure drops to 51%. A higher percentage of women (31%) wear a jacket during pesticide application than men (18%).

Pesticide risks for women and children

There are some notable instances when exposure to pesticide risk indirectly impacts women and children. This includes, for example, domestic chores such as laundry. Women are often responsible for washing the household’s clothing, including their husband’s PPE. These garments can be contaminated with pesticides. So, although women might wear more PPE when applying pesticides themselves, they can be exposed to risks in other ways and at other times.

Furthermore, women are primarily responsible for childcare. With limited care options, many mothers have no choice but to bring their children to the farms where they work. While the women may wear PPE when applying pesticides, their children remain unprotected. As a result, they face a heightened risk of chemical exposure. This is due to their presence in areas where pesticides are used. Moreover, their small size and young stage of development make children more vulnerable to pesticides. Exposure can lead to both acute and chronic impacts.

Integrated pest management

The study revealed that women have very low knowledge of lower-risk plant protection approaches and products. Researchers analyzed men’s and women’s knowledge, practice, and perceptions of lower-risk pest control methods.

Integrated pest management (IPM) is considered a key approach to reducing pesticide risk, and pest monitoring is an important part of IPM. Results confirmed that over 50% of farmers perform pest monitoring at various stages, including the seedling stage and the ‘in the field’ stage. However, the report revealed that men are mostly responsible for IPM. Women’s application was insignificant in many of the IPM practices.

Access to agricultural training

This leads to a further observation. Women are unlikely to learn about lower-risk plant protection approaches and products and safe pesticide handling. This is because they have little access to extension services. Women are often overlooked or unable to participate in extension training, for many reasons. Trainings often target heads of households, who are usually men. Moreover, sessions are regularly held at times when women are engaged in household responsibilities.

Access to agriculture extension services can help farmers reduce pesticide risks. These services share knowledge and training about pesticide use. They are crucial for reducing health and environmental risks. The research results confirmed that only around 12% of women in the surveyed sample have participated in agricultural training sessions. Men’s participation is almost double, at around 21%. Furthermore, 38% of men have received personal, on-site advice from extension staff. This figure drops dramatically for women, down to 9%.

To address the lack of advisory services for women farmers, PlantwisePlus has provided advice through plant clinics. It has also built the capacity of extension staff, helping to share practical plant health solutions. Specifically, the programme has delivered advice on biocontrol, biopesticides and IPM. These are all approaches that reduce pesticide risks. Moreover, the programme’s work supports more inclusive agricultural advisory services. The approaches that PlantwisePlus applies are helping to address gender disparities more broadly.

Women’s participation in agricultural decision-making bodies is slowly growing but remains limited. Efforts to encourage women’s leadership and active participation in farmer organizations are ongoing. WhatsApp groups have proved useful. As a communication and learning tool, it can help extensionists to reach many women farmers.

Looking ahead…

The study shows gender gaps in pesticide use and risks. Women face pesticide exposure, but they aren’t usually involved in the decision-making around them. Many lack protective gear and training. Limited access to agricultural services worsens risks. Communities need better training, PPE access and safer pest control methods. Inclusive policies can protect women smallholders and promote safer farming.

The gender divide must be addressed, not only for pesticide risk reduction but across agriculture more broadly. In Sri Lanka, women’s contribution to food security is substantial. However, their labour often goes unaccounted for. Furthermore, they receive low wages compared to men for doing the same work. Cultural and social norms keep women from achieving their potential. Yet, their empowerment would foster resilience against many types of challenge, from climate adaptation to consumer and farmer health.

In the coming months, PlantwisePlus will broaden its implementation activities into more countries. Sri Lanka is now the programme’s seventh focus country. In future, the programme will develop and implement a gender action plan. It will also create a gender technical working group. In addition, it will implement gender sensitization training for partners and other stakeholders. These measures will help to ensure sustained change.

Also Read: Rallis India gets Excellence in Business Responsibility and Sustainability Reporting (BRSR) Award

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