An analytical study on the drudgery prone paddy cultivation practices

Drudgery is termed for hard work, monotony, time-consuming, and use of traditional
tools with inappropriate working posture in the field [1]. The drudgery of farmers is a crucial
aspect that has attracted wide attention from researchers. Paddy is cultivated and consumed as
the major food grain crop all over the world. Almost all the practices are performed manually
by the farmers. Many of such activities are drudgery susceptible to varying degrees which
results in the various health hazards and reduced work efficiency of the farmers. The present
study aims to showcase the areas of discomfort while doing the various cultivation practices
in paddy, the causes for the reduced efficiency and production, health hazards that farmers are
facing at the field level, and strategies to overcome them. The study collected various
literature reviews by the experts which pooled together for a better understanding of the
existing situations in which work-related health hazards, body part discomfort, Energy
expenditure, Human Physical Drudgery Index (HPDI), and Extent of postural discomfort
using Rapid Upper Limb Assessment (RULA), Rapid Entire Body Assessment (REBA) were
included. However, it is very challenging to the researcher to take the body part
measurements from the respondents in the data collection process. Various improved tools are
available for the paddy cultivation practices should be made aware of by the farmers for
effective and efficient participation in farming which results in reduced drudgery.