Ergonomics assessment of drudgery in rice-wheat production system in India: a case study of women farmers

Farm women are often forced to work in extremely hazardous conditions due to their limited access to improved agricultural technologies. This circumstance makes agricultural work physically demanding, requiring significant physiological effort and the maintenance of good posture. It is also very exhausting, time-consuming, and stressful. The study was designed to evaluate and quantify the drudgery involved in the rice-wheat production system for rural women. Three replications of a 10-min work cycle without a break were used to assess the physiological and postural demands of various farm tasks on the female workers. Observations were recorded on farm women workers who were in normal health, without any major illness, and regularly involved in farm operations. In the attempt to obtain and analyze the prioritized drudgery experiences in crop production activities through drudgery assessment and reduction, various ergonomically sound farm tools and implements were provided for crop cultivation and intercultural operations. Data indicating musculoskeletal disorders were analyzed by ergonomics assessment of postural and biomechanical assessments using the Human Physical Drudgery Index (HPDI), resulting in the maximum drudgery reflecting very high risk in transplanting (48.4%), followed by threshing (47.2%), load carrying (46.00%), and harvesting (45.14%). For physiological ergonomics quantifications, the most drudgery-prone activities in the rice-wheat production system, i.e., transplanting, harvesting, threshing & post-harvest, and load carrying, were evaluated, and it was found that drudgery is caused by different activities with reflects working energy expenditure rate ranging from ~7.00 to 12.00 (kJ/min) and total cardiac cost of work (TCCW) ~ 331.00 to 524.00. Multivariate regression analysis was employed to drive relationships between energy expenditure rate (dependent variable) and other independent variables, such as age, body mass index (BMI), mid-upper arm circumference (MUAC), calf circumference (CC), skinfold measurements, body density (D), % body fat, fat mass, and fat-free mass (kg). It was found that energy expenditure rate during various crop production practices is positively correlated with independent variables (R = 0.721, R2 = 0.520, Adjusted R2 = 0.518, Standard Error of Estimate = 0.0324, Durbin-Watson = 1.531). It was found that with higher physiological parameters, the corresponding energy expenditure is maximized relating to the drudgery in respective agricultural activities. The present study addressed the magnitude of drudgery for women farmers in the rice-wheat production system and its mitigation strategy

Nutritional Health Multidimensional Locus of Control (HMLC) Instrument for Farming Community: Confirmatory factor analysis

Not AvailableIndia is self-sufficient country in terms of food production. However, it still suffers from nutritional maladies. A prime aspect to understand the issues is to see how farmer's behavior is affected by their locus of control. Nutritional Health Multidimensional Locus of Control has been derived from the premise of Multidimensional health locus of control and locus of control per se. This can be used as an instrument to know the locus and associated factors that can affect the nutritional behavior change especially in context of appropriate agri-nutri interventions. The study was conducted in Odisha and Uttar Pradesh (nutritionally vulnerable areas) .The sample size was 100 farmers selected by simple random sampling technique. Confirmatory factor analysis was employed to find the best among A,B and C forms for farmers. Form A with 18 statements was found to be statistically the best one.Not Availabl

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Not AvailableAgricultural extension services are under pressure to make greater contributions to agricultural development and progress. Agricultural extension services need human resources who arecompetent.As extensionists are aware of training and educational needs of their team members, it is very important to administer extension activities with competent extensionists. For effective and efficient extension, it is important to know thebarriers towards extension to deliver the required services to farmers in order to empower them. Competencies of extensionistsare vital for work as these are associated to their professional development and skills to communicate. Analysisof skill gap(s) is the key to update extensionists as pe rtheir capability in the field. In the present study, a skill gap analysis using 'Borich Need Assessment Model' was used for the extensionists of KVKs of selected districts of two states viz; of UP and Odisha. The total sample size was 200 for astructured interview schedule used to elicit information from the extensionists. A Mean Weighted Discrepancy Score (MWDS) was calculated to find the gap in skill. This study showed, that 'confidence to work without support and guidance' was of the highest level as a skill gap among extensionists, when new methods in extension work were to be introduced, while consideringpros and con of arguments put up to an extensionist, by a farmer. Lowest mean weighted discrepancy score was given to'Conducting survey in operational area, use of PRA tools and evaluating extension program'. Based on Fuzzy Analytical Hierarchy Process/Method, a lack of upgradation of ICT equipment, emerged as the major institutional barrier. As far as professional barriers are concerned inadequate information about training and training institutes and inadequate funding on emerged as the key barriersto acquire required competencies. Updating skill of extensionists, based on gap(s), owing to the importance of confidence to work without support and guidance in order to deliver required extension information/support to farmers, is very important. As of recent emphasis being given to skill development at the national level, the extensionists must be upgraded in their ICT skill(s). Extensionists with the necessary skills in their job will lead to their better performance which will in turn result in enhanced empowerment of farmers.Not Availabl

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Not AvailableWhile climate change is ravaging our planet, its nutritional health which is going to be hit even harder. Food is going to be more expensive, less nutritious and scarcer. The reduced nutritional quality of important crops could mark the beginning of a looming nutritional health crisis. Climate change is not only reducing yields, but also sapping nutrients from our meals. If climate change is predicted to cut access to nutrients then food and nutritional security is growing concern and we need to understand perceptions and implications of this burning issue for stakeholders especially farmers and extensions. The objective of the study was to develop and validate scales to study these perceptions of farmers and Extensionists regarding impact of climate change on nutrition. The locale selected for the study was from States of Uttar Pradesh (UP) and Odisha due to their nutritional vulnerability status. The sample size constituted of100 farmers from these villages and extensionists from Krishi Vigyan Kendras and line departments of the state who were selected by random sampling technique. A total of 69 items were selected from review of literature. These were further reduced to 43 based on expert’s judgments. The items were finally reduced to 16 items for farmers and 24items for extensionists by statistical analysis using Mokken’s Scaling Analysis. Loevinger’s coefficient was calculated for item H (Hi); item pair H (Hij) and for the overall scale (Hs). By this means, and based on the mean scores on items by individuals, a set of items were selected. Items which had Hs>0.4 were selected. These scales can be used by various stakeholders for designing interventions for climate and nutrition smart agriculture. There is a need for agri-nutri education for consumers and farmers, especially the women in India which has a triple burden of malnutrition. Synergies of the climate and nutrition agendas need to be built for human and planet health. The implications are huge. Climate change and agriculture needs to be seen through a nutrition and gender lens for convergence to ensure food and nutritional security.Not Availabl