Ergonomic Cost of Dairy Activity (Cutting and Bringing Fodder) Performed by farm Women of Punjab

Rural women of Punjab (India) perform the activity of cutting and bringing fodder almost everyday for 2–3 hours and walk long distance from field to home with a bundle of fodder on their heads. They perform the activity with old designed tools, which make them to work in unfavourable postures for long hours, and cause serious damage to their body. The present research is undertaken to study the ergonomic cost of cutting and bringing fodder in order to design the women friendly tools/technologies to improve the work efficiency and health status of women. The study was conducted on 20 farmwomen of Punjab, 10 each in the age group of 21–30, and 31–40 yrs. Selected women performed the activity of cutting and bringing fodder in two phases. In the first phase, the activity was split up in four stages viz., onward journey to the field, cutting fodder, making bundles, and finally bringing fodder at the place of cattle shed and the ergonomic parameters were recorded for each individual stage of the activity. In the second phase, the whole activity was performed in one complete cycle and the same ergonomic parameters were recorded for the whole activity. Heart rate of the women during activity was recorded with the help of heart rate monitor at the interval of 5 minutes each. Rated perceived exertion (RPE) by the women was also measured on 5 point scale ranging from 1–5, viz., 1 for very mild and 5 for very severe body pain. From the values of heart rate, total cardiac cost of work and physiological cost of work were derived. Results of the study indicated that ergonomic cost of cutting and bringing fodder, both in split-up stages and in complete cycle of the activity were much beyond the acceptable limits of the worker, resulting in low work output along with deterioration of their health. Scores for perceived exertion regarding the activity also ranged between 4 and 5, indicating that the exertion from the activity was felt very severe by the respondents. From the present study, it was therefore concluded, that there is an immediate need to develop women friendly technologies/tools for the activity to lower down the body stresses of women.