International Journal of Agricultural Engineering

Nasima Farhanaali ¹, Nandita Bhattachary ², Moonty Baruah ²

Affiliations
1 A.I.C.R.P. on Home Science, Department of Family Resource Management, College of Home Science, Assam Agricultural University, Jorhat Assam, IN
2 Department of Family Resource Management, College of Home Science, Assam Agricultural University, Jorhat Assam, IN

Abstract

Pruning is a vital operation in tea gardens to limit the top growth and to rejuvenates the tea bush and brings it to growth of new pluckable shoots. Pruning is an exceedingly repetitive task and usually carried out with forceful exertion that involves movement of hand muscles, shoulder and wrist joint. In this study, an effort was made to modify the pruning knife used for light pruning activity in order to minimize drudgery involved in the activity and to increase work efficiency of the tea workers. It was limited to the light pruning activity only since it is the standard recurring pruning carried out in Assam. Thus, the present study is an attempt to ergonomically evaluate drudgery involved in light pruning activity using conventional and improved pruning knives. Eight physically fit tea workers (four male and four female) without having any physical disability and chronic ailments were selected for the field trial of the improved pruning knife. The results showed that improved pruning knife was found to be very effective in reducing drudgery of tea workers in terms of physiological workload, grip fatigue and musculoskeletal problems as compared to existing pruning knife. The curved or 'S' shaped handle of the improved knife makes the workers to grip it comfortably with lesser shocks while striking the tea bushes. In addition, the weight of the improved knife was kept balanced between blade and handle which allows the workers to prune effortlessly with clean cut.

Keywords

Physiological Workload, Rating of Perceived Exertion, Grip Fatigue, Musculoskeletal Problems, Pruning Efficiency

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Swapnali Borah ¹, Moonty Baruah ²

Affiliations
1 Department of Family Resource Management, College of Home Science, Central Agricultural University, Tura Meghalaya, IN
2 Department of Family Resource Management, Faculty of Home Science, Assam Agricultural University, Jorhat Assam, IN

Abstract

Women are the main working force in cashewnut industry of Meghalaya, which is in North Eastern part of India. Raw cashewnut requires an elaborate process of sun drying, roasting, shelling and peeling of testa to become suitable for human consumption. Shelling of hard outer shell of cashewnut is time and labour intensive which create severe musculoskeletal problem. Twenty women labour were selected purposively for the study and intensity of body pain, perceived joint discomfort, muscular fatigue of hand grip, postural deviation and relationship between demographic factor with dependant variable i.e. musculoskeletal problem were recorded. Results show that majority of the women felt severe to very severe pain in fingers, wrist and upper and lower arm of both hands and upper and lower back and they perceived more than intolerable joint discomfort while shelling cashewnut. It was also observed that grip strength of the right hand decreased by 6.59% and left hand is 3.23% after completion of the work and also observed that the deviation of spinal column due to squatting posture is more (11.95%) in the lumber region than the cervical region (3.5%). Further analysis shows that there existed a significant positive correlation in between age and intensity of body pain (r=0.552) of women labour and also in between years of involvement and MSD (r=0.576).

Keywords

Musculo-skeletal Disorder (MSDs), Back Pain, Hand Grip Strength, Body Ache Syndrome And Postural Deviation

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