Assessment of nutritional status and habitual dietary intake of Indian farm women: Evidence from a case study in central India.

OBJECTIVES: Nutritional security for women working in agriculture is one of the most serious and persisting concerns in developing countries like India. The present study surveyed the dynamics of nutritional status based on dietary intake, namely calorie, carbohydrate, protein, fat, calcium, folic acid, iron, vitamin, carotene, etc., in the farm women in the central India state of Madhya Pradesh. METHODS: A total of 225 farm women (ages 18 to 60 y) who were engaged in agricultural activities were selected for this study. The nutritional survey was done by personal interview on food intake with a pretested interview schedule and daily dietary intake. The survey questionnaire includes information on family, socioeconomic status, income, education, occupation, and food habits of the farm women. As "daily dietary intake", respondents were asked to list all foods and beverages consumed for a whole day. RESULTS: The mean age, height, weight, and body mass index of the respondents were 34.93 y, 1519 mm, 49.47 kg, and 21.5 kg/m2, respectively. Based on different grades of nutrition, body mass index results indicated that 28% were underweight, 52.4% were normal, 17.8% were overweight, and 1.8% were obese. Inequality (estimated by Gini coefficient) analysis found that there is not much variation in the nutrient intake levels across the physical status of the respondents, with the exception of carotene and vitamin C. The classification and regression tree analysis indicated that with the exception of fat, the rest of the nutrients were not significant in determining the farm women's physical status in terms of weight. In the analysis of the waist-to-hip ratio, the risk of metabolic diseases (cardiovascular disease, diabetes, etc.) was higher in the 31- to 40-y age group. CONCLUSIONS: Overall food frequency indicated that poor intake of micronutrients in their diet according to their work activity results in poor health status. The study affirmed that the actual intake of nutrients varied significantly across the physical status of the farm women, their physical activities carried out, and their monthly income level. The study also suggests various policy options to overcome the nutritional gap in farm women.

Design, development and application of a compact robotic transplanter with automatic seedling picking mechanism for plug-type seedlings.

Automation of agricultural operation such as seedling transplanting is needed to ensure efficient as well as timely operation. Robotics is the area that needs to be focused for the future of automatic seedling transplanter. This paper presents the design, development as well as working of the robotic transplanter (RT) for plug seedlings. The developed RT consists of three systems: (1) robot initiation; (2) seedling picking mechanism (SPM); and (3) vehicle movement system (VMS). The SPM consists of a main frame, manipulator, end-effector and control unit. Whereas, the VMS is having photoelectric sensor, robot controller and DC motor. The stepper motors were mounted on the main frame for movement in XY direction. The manipulator was on the crossbar that used to move the end-effector in Z-axis. The pick-up mechanism consists of an end-effector having jaw-type gripper controlled by servo motor. The control unit consists of microchip 16F877 and the system is controlled with computer programming. The gripper moves to each seedling in the pro-tray, grasp and pick-up the seedling, moves to the delivery point and then release the seedling. The manipulator was tested and analyzed for pickup and releasing of 96 seedlings with soil base from pro-tray. The initial experimental result showed that the seedling success rate, leakage rate and successful transplanting of 30 days old chilli seedling was 95.1%, 7.6% and 90.3%, respectively. Robotic technology seems to be expensive but the scope lies in the non-availability or high cost of manual labour and to ensure timeliness of repetitive field operations.

Work-related injuries among farm workers engaged in agricultural operations in India: a cross-sectional study.

PURPOSE: We aim to investigate nature, risk factors as well as magnitude of farm injuries and fatalities among agricultural workers in rural India. METHODS: An Agricultural Injury Study (AIS) was conducted using selected 1703 villages in eight states of rural India based on statistical consideration using unstructured proforma for 3086 victims/respodents, who were mostly agricultural workers or farmers. Injury incidence rate (IIR) was estimated per 1000 machines/tools per year for farm machinery and hand tools injuries, and per 100 000 workers per year for other sources. Questions about the injuries involved in farming tasks were used. RESULTS: About 36.2% fatalities were caused by farm machinery that involves tractors. The IIR per year of farm machinery, hand tools and injuries due to other sources were 3.2 per 1000 machines, 0.7 per 1000 tools and 77 per 100 000 workers, respectively. Correlation between number of injury-prone agricultural machines and number of farm machinery injury is r=0.80 (number of injuries increases with increase in number of machines). The χ²=72.53; p<0.01 of number of hand tools and number of farm hand tools-related injuries, that is, they are statistically significant. CONCLUSION: Exposures to agricultural machineries during farming operations can result in injuries confounding that may be fatal or non-fatal. Mapping down the cause and taking preventive measure to reduce the losses are of major concern. Also, customised safety programme as well as legislative awareness is needed to be raised for the higher injury incidence group.

Risk Estimates of Agricultural Injuries and Fatalities in Central India.

The purpose of the study was to describe the nature, magnitude, causes, and economic impact, and also to evaluate risk estimates of agricultural incidents occurring during 2012-2013 in Madhya Pradesh, India. The study was carried out in 360 villages in 9 districts of Madhya Pradesh namely Datia, Shivpuri, Balaghat, Barwani, Indore, Jhabua, Narshigpur, Satna, and Bhopal. A total of 92 793 agricultural workers participated in a survey of agricultural incidents. Of 21 agricultural incidents, 14% were fatal and 86% non-fatal in nature. The agricultural incident rates were 0.23/1000 agricultural worker per year and 0.2/1000 agricultural machines per year. The annual monetary loss due to deaths in agricultural incidents in Madhya Pradesh was estimated to be Rs. 16 935.4 lakhs. The economic loss due to agricultural incidents is more severe that resulted in significant loss to the workers due to absence from work. Hence, it is important to map down the cause and taking preventive measures to reduce the losses.

Drudgery assessment and ergonomic evaluation of pedal operated Ragi (Eleusine Coracana) thresher.

BACKGROUND: Ragi (Eleusine Coracana) is a major food crop for the tribal population of India. OBJECTIVE: This study emphasizes the need to consider ergonomics aspects in the design and development of a pedal operated ragi thresher (PORT) for tribal people, and assesses the drudgery as well as ergonomic evaluation of a developed thresher against the conventional practice. METHODS: Thirty subjects (male = 15 and female = 15) from the tribal region were evaluated ergonomically. The physiological responses of the subjects were studied and their performance was compared. RESULTS: The results revealed that the working heart rate, oxygen consumption rate and overall discomfort rating were significantly higher in case of traditional threshing as compared to those in case of PORT. Postural analysis identified the traditional method as the most fatigue one as the person has to lift the hand above shoulder level repeatedly and has to sit in a squatting posture for long period. CONCLUSION: The drudgery and occupational hazards to public health involved in the traditional method of threshing was reduced by using the PORT. Furthermore, the traditional method involved continuous stressed actions across the entire body, whereas the PORT involved only the lower limbs.

Actuating Force Required for Operating Various Controls of a Walk-Behind Type Paddy Transplanter Leading to Development of a Remotely Operated System.

HIGHLIGHTS The actuating force, torque, and application rate needed to operate the control levers of a walk-behind type paddy transplanter were determined. The results will be beneficial for the development of a remote-control or autonomous system for the transplanter. Such a system will reduce operator fatigue, resulting in increased work efficiency and safety. ABSTRACT. An enormous amount of human fatigue is involved in operating the walk-behind type paddy transplanters widely used in South Asian countries, especially India. To operate a transplanter remotely, accurate estimation of the actuating force needed to operate the control levers (push/pull type), the stroke length of the levers, and the frequency of use of the levers is required so that the mechanical levers can be replaced with appropriate electronic sensors, control units, and actuators. In this study, the actuating forces and required torques of the control levers of a walk-behind type paddy transplanter (Kubota NSP-4W, model MZ175-B-1) were measured using three load-measuring instruments. The results revealed that about 24.1 N of force was required to control the accelerator lever, while the left and right steering levers required an actuating force of 24.0 N each. To start the transplanting mechanism, a much higher actuating force (78.1 N) and torque (15.47 N-m) were required 54 times per hour for the planting clutch lever; however, to stop the mechanism, a comparatively smaller force (28.3 N) and torque (5.71 N-m) were required 54 times per hour. Movement of the transplanter was controlled with the shift clutch lever, which required 14.30 N of force and 2.72 N-m torque for forward movement of the transplanter in field conditions, while 12.7 N of force and 2.88 N-m torque were required for forward movement of the transplanter on paved roads. These findings will be beneficial for selecting the force and stroke length of actuators for the development of a remote-control or autonomous system for walk-behind type paddy transplanters and similar machines, which is expected to substantially reduce the operator workload and enhance both workability and safety.

Tractor controls actuating force limits for Indian operators.

In four-wheel tractors, proper design of controls is important for comfortable and safe operation of the tractor. The design involves location and dimensions of controls as well as strength limits for operating these controls. The present study was aimed to quantify human strength for operation of tractor controls and to recommend the maximum control actuating forces for normal operation of tractors based on strength capability of 3,423 Indian male agricultural workers. The 5th percentile values of strength parameters i.e. leg strength sitting (left and right), foot strength sitting (right), torque strength (both hands) sitting, push strength (left hand and right hand) sitting and pull strength (left hand and right hand) sitting of agricultural workers collected using a strength measurement set-up were taken into consideration for the study. It was recommended that the maximum actuating forces for normal operation of frequently operated brake and clutch pedals of tractors should not exceed 260 N and 125 N based on 5th percentile values of right and left leg strength of male agricultural workers, respectively. The maximum actuating force required in steering wheel operation should not exceed 51 N based on 5th percentile value of torque strength (both hands) sitting of workers. The maximum actuating forces required for operating frequently operated levers viz. gear selection, speed selection, hydraulic control and hand throttle of Indian tractors should not exceed 46 N, 46 N, 25 N and 25 N, respectively. It may be concluded that the maximum actuating force limits as given in Bureau of Indian Standards IS 10703 are very high as compared to the findings of the study based on strength data of Indian male operators, which highlight the need to revise the standard.