Ergonomic evaluation of hand operated maize sheller for reducing drudgery of farm women in Bihar
Evaluation of hand operated maize sheller
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.21921/jas.v8i01.19560Keywords:
Ergonomic, drudgery, cardiac cost, discomfort Score, maize shellingAbstract
Maize shelling is one of the tedious and time-consuming agricultural operations. To reduce the drudgery of farm women involved in maize shelling, a hand-held octagonal maize sheller (OMS) tool was introduced. The OMS tool was evaluated for its impact on human health and shelling efficiency. An ergonomic study of the OMS tool was carried out with farm women as subjects for evaluation. Various ergonomic and technical performance parameters were assessed for two types of shelling viz. hand shelling and shelling using OMS tool. The results revealed that the OMS tool and hand shelling recorded an output of 23.71 and 8.87 kg/h, respectively. The cardiac cost per unit of output worked out was 69.73 and 287.09 beats/kg for OMS tool and hand shelling, respectively. Compared to hand shelling, the OMS tool reduced drudgery by 75.71%. Overall discomfort rating was 1.58 and 2.12 while the body part discomfort score was 21.27 and 30.41 for OMS tool and hand shelling, respectively. Adoption of OMS tool reduced the physical stress as very small percentage of subjects (<40%) reported about the body pain. In view of increased shelling efficiency and reduced physical pain, the OMS tool was found more suitable and is recommended for maize shelling.
References
Corlett EN and Bishop RP.1976. A Technique for Assessing Postural Discomfort. Ergonomics 19(2): 175-182
Garrow J. 1987. Human Nutrition and Dietetics. Nutrition News 1991. National Institute of Nutrition, Hyderabad.
Hasalkar S, Budihal R, Shivalli R and Biradar N.2004. Assessment of work load of weeding activity in crop production through heart rate. J. Hum. Ecol. 14(3): 165-167.
Hume R. 1966. Prediction of lean body mass from height and weight. J. Clinical Path. 19.
Kumar R, Singh RP, Singh NP and Vasisht AK. 2005. Production performance of maize crop in northern India: A district wise exploration. Agricultural situation in India LXI (11): 765-771.
Meyers JM, Miles J A, Faucett J, Janowitz I, Tejeda D G and Kabashima J N. 1997. Ergonomics in Agriculture: Workplace Priority Setting in the Nursery Industry. American Industrial Hygiene Association Journal 58:2: 121-126.
Nag PK and Chatterjee S K. 1981. Physiological Reactions of Female Workers in Indian Agricultural Work. Human Factors 23(5):607-614.
Potdar RR, Ram R, Kumar A, Singh JK and Mani I. 2011. Ergonomic Evaluation of Rotary Power Input by Hand and Leg Muscles to Operate Farm Equipment. Journal of Agricultural Engineering. 48(3): 8-16.
Schlich E, Schumm M and Schlich M. 2010. 3-D-Body-Scanals anthropometrisches Verfahren zur Bestimmung der spezifischen Körperoberfläche. Ernährungs Umschau. 57: 178–183. http://ecoursesonline.iasri.res.in/mod/page/view.php?id=125404
Singh A, Gautam US, Pannase S and Singh A. 2010. Ergonomic evaluation of farm women during maize shelling. Indian Res. J. Ext. Edu. 10(3): 41-43.
Singh AK, Singh AK, Kumar R, Prakash V, Sundaram PK and Yadav SK. 2017. Indian Cereals Saga: Standpoint and Way Forward. Journal of AgriSearch 4 (1): 1-10.
Singh SP and Gite LP. 2007. Ergonomical evaluation of a hand operated paddy winnower by women workers. Journal of Agricultural Engineering 44(4): 67-71.
Singh SP, Gite LP, Agarwal N and Majumder J. 2007. Technical bulletin no. CIAE /2007/128, Women friendly improved farm tools and equipment. Published by CIAE, Bhopal. 56 p.
Singh SP, Gite LP, Majumder J and Agarwal N.2008. Aerobic capacity of Indian farm women using sub-maximal exercise technique on treadmill. Agricultural Engineering International: the CIGR e-journal MES 08 001. Vol. X.
Singh SP, Singh P and Singh S. 2011. Status of Maize Threshing in India. Agricultural mechanization in Asia, Africa, and Latin America 42 (3):21-28.
Tripathi SP, Somvanshi SPS, Bhadhoria UPS and Singh A. 2016. Ergonomic evaluation of hand operated maize sheller on farm women of Mandsaur district (M.P.), India. Plant Archives 16(1): 303-305.
Varghese MA, Saha PN and Atreya N. 1994. A rapid appraisal of occupational workload from modified scale of perceived exertion. Ergonomics 37(3): 485-491.
Verma S, Bajpai D, Shrivastava AK and Dhakad SS.2016. Effect of maize sheller on efficiency and ergonomic parameters for farm women in Hoshangabad district of Madhya Pradesh. Res. Environ. Life Sci. 9(4): 484-486.
