Workload and Rating of Perceived Exertion of the female laborers in cutting of sorghum crop
DOI: https://doi.org/10.21276/AATCCReview.2025.13.01.473
Abstract
Women constitute almost half of the workforce engaged in agriculture. The rural women
participate in a broad range of agricultural activities involve a lot of physical strain which create
serious health problems in the long run. Keeping this in view a study was conducted in four
villages of Dharwad taluka were randomly selected for the study thus a total sample comprised
of 160 women. With respect to the tools for harvest and post harvest activities of sorghum crop
i.e., two improved sickle from dev Agro Tools Bangalore and one from CIAE Bhopal. The
results revealed that mean working heart rate and energy expenditure was higher during cutting
stalks with CIAE Bhopal sickle i.e., 141.40 beats/min and 13.76kj/min respectively when
compared to traditional sickle. Based on the mean working heart rate, cutting stalks of sorghum
crop was classified as very heavy for CIAE Bhopal sickle and as heavy for traditional, I-108and
I-104 sickles. With respect to the musculoskeletal disorder, the female laborers expressed very
severe pain by the use of CIAE Bhopal sickle compared to other sickle and less score was
observed with I-104 sickle for upper and lower parts of the body. Challenges in this study
included the physical strain experienced by the women during the use of various sickles, which
could affect the accuracy and consistency of the data on health impacts. Additionally, assessing
musculoskeletal disorders and energy expenditure in real-world settings posed logistical
difficulties, as individual variations in technique and body type may have influenced the results.
Despite these challenges, the study contributed valuable insights into the differences in health
impacts between traditional and improved sickles, highlighting the importance of ergonomic
tools for reducing physical strain in agricultural tasks. The findings emphasize the need for better
tool design to prevent musculoskeletal disorders and optimize energy expenditure for female
agricultural workers.