Ergonomic Assessment of Selected Technologies Developed for Drudgery Mitigation in Turmeric Production System

The present work was carried out in Parbhani District of Marathwada region in Maharashtra state. Selected thirty women were aged between 20 to 50 yrs., having average height 145.68 cm., body weight 52 kg. and average annual income was Rs.64,346/-. Maximum respondents were performing agricultural activities for more than 15 years and most of them were working for 6 to 8 hr. in the field. About 77 percent farm workers noted to be working for 7 days in a week. All the farmers were unaware about the hand operated machines available for planting, earthing up and cleaning & sorting activities. After performing these activities continuously for 6 hr., major health problems of the farm women reported were burning sensation to the skin, skin peeling and allergy. Hence, small digging tool (Ukari for planting rhizomes), earthing up tool (Sawdi),, and mittens for cleaning & sorting were developed and tested. Ergonomic assessment revealed that physiological cost of selected activities performed by farm women in existing and improved method was at par but perception of work load was found to be reduced (23-32%) in improved method. All the developed technologies used by farm women in turmeric production system for planting, earthing up, and cleaning & sorting were successful in increasing pace of work. In all these activities, the output was significantly increased by 20-26 per cent due to use of developed technologies.