International Journal of Agriculture Sciences ISSN: 0975-3710&E-ISSN: 0975-9107, Volume 11, Issue 4, 2019 || Bioinfo Publications || 7874 Research Article INTERPRETATION OF ARSENIC CONTAMINATION IN GROUND WATER BY THE FARMERS: THE PERCEPTION AND IMPACT CHATTERJEE R.*, ACHARYA S.K. AND MITRA S. Department of Agricultural Extension, Faculty of Agriculture, Bidhan Chandra Krishi Viswavidyalaya, Mohanpur, Nadia, 741252, West Bengal , India *Corresponding Author: Email - ritichatterjee2015@gmail.com Received: February 02, 2019; Revised: February 15, 2019; Accepted: February 16, 2019; Published: February 28, 2019 Citation: Chatterjee R., et al., (2019) Interpretation of Arsenic Contamination in Ground Water by the Farmers: The Perception and Impact. International Journal of Agriculture Sciences, ISSN: 0975-3710 & E-ISSN: 0975-9107, Volume 11, Issue 4, pp.- 7874-7876. Copyright: Copyright©2019 Chatterjee R., et al., This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credit ed. Academic Editor / Reviewer: Dr Surendra Singh Rana Introduction Arsenic contamination is one of the serious concerns for public health aspect throughout the world. Sometimes arsenic affected people may not be severely impaired but society may point them as Dangerous or poisonous ones [3]. It has reported that maximum of dangers caused by arsenic toxicity due to lack of knowledge about the source of this metal [2]. Fear of nearness has separated number of families, done social isolation in schools and people living in highly contaminated areas are generally avoided much [1]. Sarker (2010) has also seen that arsenic poisoning causes lot of health issues as well as social and psychological sufferings such as community refusal, social discrimination, unhappy married life, child development issues, mental disorder etc. Drinking of arsenic-contaminated tubewell water has become a serious health threat in Bangladesh. Study has conducted on this topic to generate classified information on perception on arsenic contamination, to estimate the level of impact on the rural people in terms of socio-ecological factor and it will generate micro level policy implication based on the empirical study. Methods Research locale and sampling Nonaghata-uttarpara village of the Haringhata block of Nadia district in West Bengal was randomly selected for the study. The area has been selected for the study because of–a) There is sample scope for collecting relevant data for the present study, b) Acquaintance with the local people as well as local language, c) The concern area was very easily accessible to the researcher in terms of place of residence, d) The area was very easily accessible to the researcher in terms of transportation and e) The closer familiarities of the student researchers with the area, people, officials and local dialects. Before starting the main field study, a pilot study was conducted to understand the area, community, people, natural resources and knowledge and perception of the people towards arsenic contamination concept. Table-1 Sampling Techniques and Sampling Design Step Items Level Approach 1 State West Bengal Purposive 2 District Nadia Purposive 3 Subdivision Kalyani Purposive 4 Block Haringhata Purposive 5 Gram Panchayat Mollabilia Purposive 6 Village Nonaghata-uttarpara Purposive 7 Respondents 70 Random After reviewing various literatures related to the field of study and consultation with respected chairman Advisory Committee and other experts, a list of variables was prepared. Table-2 Empirical Measurement of the Independent Variables Independent Variables: SL No Variables Notation 1 Age X1 2 Education X2 3 Family size X3 4 Occupation X4 5 Size of land Holding X5 6 Homestead land X6 7 Land under Irrigation X7 8 Source of Irrigation X8 9 Communication Variables X9 10 Cropping Intensity X10 Dependent Variable: Y-Perception on Arsenic (1-10 scale) Results and Discussion The [Table-3] presents the coefficient of correlation between Y: Perception on arsenic vs. 10 independent variables(x1-x10). It has been found that following variables viz. Age -(X1), Family size-(X3), Occupation-(X4), Homestead land-(X6), Communication Variables-(X9) and Cropping Intensity-(X10) have recorded significant correlation with the dependent variable. International Journal of Agriculture Sciences ISSN: 0975-3710 & E-ISSN: 0975-9107, Volume 11, Issue 4, 2019, pp.-7874-7876. Available online at https://www.bioinfopublication.org/jouarchive.php?opt=&jouid=BPJ0000217 Abstract: Arsenic contamination is one of the serious concerns for public health aspect throughout the world. Sometimes arsenic affected people may not be severely impaired but society may point them as Dangerous or poisonous ones. Study on this topic was carried out at Nonaghata-uttarpara village of the Haringhata block of Nadia district in West Bengal taking 70 respondents randomly. Variables like age, cropping intensity, source of irrigation, communication variables are taken for collection of reliable data. The present study well identified some of the important factors (age, education, cropping intensity, communication exposures, homestead land) to study the perception of individuals regarding arsenic contamination. Special education/training programs are much needed for sufferers with lower income and education status in order to improve perception about consequences of chronic arsenic contamination; this will be an important element for abating the ever increasing social crisis. Keywords: Arsenic, Education, Irrigation, Perception