Role of farm women in agricultural activities

Kumari, Anuradha; Laxmikant,

doi:10.15740/has/au/10.1/31-35

Cited by 2 publications

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“…In various surveys related to women’s contribution toward agriculture, mostly time and monetary part is calculated. [ 7 ] The health effects are focused rarely. Mechanization of various agricultural activities will help women significantly to save their time and energy as well as to promote their health.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Measuring the drudgery and time-poverty of rural women - A pilot study from rural Rajasthan

Jadhav¹

2020

Indian J Occup Environ Med

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Context: Women’s hard-work toward family responsibility is rarely examined from a health perspective. Excessive physical work translates into musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs). It is essential to understand certain parameters of this burden. Subjects and Methods: This was a cross-sectional study of 565 rural women. The participants were selected using a stratified random sampling method. A pre-tested questionnaire was used, focusing mainly on physical activities, durations, and health complaints. Results: The self-reported mean durations of various physical were quite high. On average, a woman spent around 11 h per day in domestic work-related physical activities. Older women (more than 50 years) spent similar durations for most of the physical activities compared to younger women (50 years or less). In the sample, 53.4% ( n = 302) participants reported at least one Chronic MSD, and 16.99% ( n = 96) took medication for the same in the last one year. Point prevalence of low back pain (LBP) was 29.2% (CI 25.5 to 33.1). Women worked even with MSDs as there was no significant difference in the mean durations among women with and without MSDs for most of the activity categories except for ‘work in bending position’ and ‘work in farm’. General caste women spent higher time in domestic work. Conclusions: Higher self-reported MSDs were likely to be contributed by continuous and repeated strenuous domestic work. Women had to continue working even with MSDs or higher age. Women got very less time for rest. Provision of basic amenities like electricity, water, cooking fuel, etc. at doorstep can help. Below poverty line women seem to have higher burden of MSDs.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Measuring the drudgery and time-poverty of rural women - A pilot study from rural Rajasthan

Jadhav¹

2020

Indian J Occup Environ Med

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“…Women contribute to agricultural activities significantly, and their tasks are the most difficult and strenuous ones. In various surveys related to women's contribution toward agriculture, mostly time and monetary parts are calculated (Kumari, 2015).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ergonomics assessment of drudgery in rice-wheat production system in India: a case study of women farmers

Joshi,

Mahra,

Jethi

et al. 2024

Front. Sustain. Food Syst.

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Farm women are often forced to work in extremely hazardous conditions due to their limited access to improved agricultural technologies. This circumstance makes agricultural work physically demanding, requiring significant physiological effort and the maintenance of good posture. It is also very exhausting, time-consuming, and stressful. The study was designed to evaluate and quantify the drudgery involved in the rice-wheat production system for rural women. Three replications of a 10-min work cycle without a break were used to assess the physiological and postural demands of various farm tasks on the female workers. Observations were recorded on farm women workers who were in normal health, without any major illness, and regularly involved in farm operations. In the attempt to obtain and analyze the prioritized drudgery experiences in crop production activities through drudgery assessment and reduction, various ergonomically sound farm tools and implements were provided for crop cultivation and intercultural operations. Data indicating musculoskeletal disorders were analyzed by ergonomics assessment of postural and biomechanical assessments using the Human Physical Drudgery Index (HPDI), resulting in the maximum drudgery reflecting very high risk in transplanting (48.4%), followed by threshing (47.2%), load carrying (46.00%), and harvesting (45.14%). For physiological ergonomics quantifications, the most drudgery-prone activities in the rice-wheat production system, i.e., transplanting, harvesting, threshing & post-harvest, and load carrying, were evaluated, and it was found that drudgery is caused by different activities with reflects working energy expenditure rate ranging from ~7.00 to 12.00 (kJ/min) and total cardiac cost of work (TCCW) ~ 331.00 to 524.00. Multivariate regression analysis was employed to drive relationships between energy expenditure rate (dependent variable) and other independent variables, such as age, body mass index (BMI), mid-upper arm circumference (MUAC), calf circumference (CC), skinfold measurements, body density (D), % body fat, fat mass, and fat-free mass (kg). It was found that energy expenditure rate during various crop production practices is positively correlated with independent variables (R = 0.721, R2 = 0.520, Adjusted R2 = 0.518, Standard Error of Estimate = 0.0324, Durbin-Watson = 1.531). It was found that with higher physiological parameters, the corresponding energy expenditure is maximized relating to the drudgery in respective agricultural activities. The present study addressed the magnitude of drudgery for women farmers in the rice-wheat production system and its mitigation strategy.

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Role of farm women in agricultural activities

Cited by 2 publications

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Measuring the drudgery and time-poverty of rural women - A pilot study from rural Rajasthan

Measuring the drudgery and time-poverty of rural women - A pilot study from rural Rajasthan

Ergonomics assessment of drudgery in rice-wheat production system in India: a case study of women farmers

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