Anthropometric Data of Farm Workers of North-Karnataka Region of India and its Practice for Better Design of Agricultural Tools and Implements

Abstract

Agriculture provides the basic means of income for majority of Indian families. The farm workers use abundant types of tools, equipments and machinery in their day-today agricultural processes. It is thus necessary to consider the human factors in the development of these farm tools/equipments to increase the operating/working efficiencies, working comforts and thereby improving the overall productivity of the workers. To successfully meet these tasks, the body dimensions of the farm workers in a particular region has to be connected with the tools/equipments/ machinery being designed and used in that region. Anthropometry is the methodical way of collecting the human body dimensions which further plays a significant role in the design of man and machine interface and hence in the design and development of products that are used by humans. Anthropometric data gives enormous amount of information to the designers and manufacturers for the development of ergonomically enhanced products which are used in a particular geographical area. Ergonomically designed equipments/products improve the human operating efficiencies and comforts during its practice. The current study is carried out to determine and examine the anthropometric data of the farm workers of northern Karnataka region of India. Twenty nine body measurements necessary for the design of farm tools/equipments/ machineries were identified and the survey was conducted on 497 farm workers randomly selected (310 male and 187 female) within the age limit of 18 to 60 years from the various villages of Northern Karnataka region of India. The data thus gathered is compared with rest of Indian available data and also with other national data to evaluate the differences in the body dimensions. The information so generated can be further utilized in the better design of farm tools, equipments and machinery for this area to improve the overall operating efficiency and comfort of the farmers.