Villagers’ Perception of Arsenic Issues on their Livelihood Assets

The study was carried out to determine the extent of villagers’ perception of arsenic issues on their livelihood assets and to explore the relationships between the selected characteristics of the villagers and their perception. Azampur village of Shimulia union in Jhikargachha Upazila under Jessore district was the locale of the research. Arsenocosis affected and un-affected villagers were considered as the population of the study. Total 35 persons were arsenic affected in the village and they were all under sample along with other 35 unaffected villagers who were selected randomly. So the sample size became 70. A pre-tested interview schedule was used to collect data from the respondents in August 2007. To measure the extent of villagers’ perception of arsenic issues, five-point Likert type scale was used. Correlation Coefficient (r) was computed to explore the relationship of the selected characteristics of villagers with their extent of perception of arsenic issues. About three fourths (74 percent) of the respondents had moderately favorable perception and the rest 26 percent had unfavorable perception of arsenic issues on their livelihood assets. Out of five capitals of livelihood assets, the highest Perception Index (55 percent) was associated with social capital and the lowest was for financial capital (24 percent). Three characteristics of the villagers viz. level of education, cosmopoliteness and exposure to arsenic information showed significant positive relationships with their perception of arsenic issues on their livelihood assets. ‘Lack of training on arsenic issues’, ‘lack of concept about effect of arsenic problem’ and ‘lack of initiatives from donor agencies’ were the major blocks to participate in arsenic mitigation initiatives as identified by the villagers.