OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH HAZARDS AND THEIR CAUSES AMONG WOMEN IN INDIAN AGRICULTURE. (original) (raw)
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The women is the backbone of agricultural workforce but worldwide her hard work has mostly been unpaid. She does the most tedious and back-breaking tasks in agriculture, animal husbandry and homes. About 70 per cent of the Indian women are engaged in agricultural work either in their own fields or in other as daily labourers. They have to perform different activities in the home as well in the field throughout the day. They do not get any chance to take a nap and work like a machine without any break as compare with the man. Still women are considered as secondary workers in the economic scenario. The farmwomen perform almost each and every agricultural activity right from land preparation, weeding, sowing, transplanting to the harvesting and storage of the agricultural produce. The majority of these activities, which are full of drudgery, have not been supported by the mechanical advantages of tool and appliances. Moreover, most of the work-studies are directed towards the measurement of external forces and time spent in work. The farm women perform very heavy tasks along with household work. This is one of the reasons of health problem. They don’t get time for rest also. They were dominated by male counterpart in many of the families. Therefore, this study was selected to identify the occupational health hazards among farm women.
Occupational Health Hazards of Women in Agriculture - A Study on Bargarh District of Odisha
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The woman is the backbone of the agricultural workforce but worldwide, her hard work has mostly been unpaid. The objective of the study was to find the common occupational health hazards in women agricultural workers and their effects and to find out the protective measures used by agricultural workers for the prevention of occupational health hazards. The present study was based on 110 samples of three villages of Bhatli Block in Bargarh District in the period of 2018-2019. The results revealed that physical hazards such as body pain (86.36%) and fatigues (83.63%) were most common in all agricultural activities. The majority of respondents (77.24%) had mechanical hazards, i.e. injury occur due to farm tools and machinery. Chemical hazards like skin problems affected 39.09% of workers, and environmental hazards such as airborne allergies (32.72%), poisonous organism bites (21.81%) were found common among the respondents, and no association was found between their socioeconomic levels in the relevance of occupational health hazard. The agricultural workers were usually careless towards the prevention of occupational hazards.
WOMEN WORKERS IN AGRICULTURE AND GENERAL HEALTH
Rural women in Karnataka are extensively involved in agricultural activities. However the nature and extent of their involvement differs with the variations in agro-production systems. The mode of female participation in agricultural production varies with the land-owning status of farm household. Their roles range from managers to landless laborers. In all farm production, women's average contribution is estimated at 55% to 66% of the total labor with percentages, much higher in certain regions. In the hills and mountain region of Karnataka it is estimated that a pair of bullocks works 1064 hours, a man 1212 hours and a woman 3485 hours in a year on one hectare farm(censes report 2001), a figure that illustrates women's significant contribution to agricultural production. At the same time they are facing many health problems due to their tight schedule with the work, lack of protein food, competitive life, side effect of pesticides, chemicals, organic fertilizers etc which are used for agriculture purpose. Researcher has chosen 25 women labors of Belgaum district Athani taluka randomly and describes their health issues here. Despite of this all efforts by women in the field of agriculture, still she have not got considerable dignity in the agricultural laboring, with stigmatization of gender bias and everyone believes women’s are not enough strong physically comparing to men and also women health issues interrupting her to work hard and get good output. Researcher made effort to understand agriculture women general health issues and intervention of social work methods in order to prevent and resolve such issues collectively.
Occupational Health Complaints of Female Agricultural Workers in Rice Cultivation System
Female workers play a crucial role for the well being of rural families and work for 14-16 hours a day using the convenient tools and small farm implements. Inspite of her intensive involvement in most arduous agriculture and allied activities her work is not recognized in monetary term. By 2020, the number of female workers engaged in various agricultural activities, in Indian will be about 115 million. Therefore more emphasis will have to be given on development of gender friendly tools and equipments. Skill up gradation of these women workers will be necessary to enable them to operate the tools and equipments in comfortable and safe manner (Gite, 2014). Keeping this in view occupational health complaints of female agricultural workers in rice cultivation system are studied. The strength and efficiency of the female agricultural workers is 2/3P rd P of male workers (Astrand and Rodahl, 1986). Thus studies on human energy measurements in agricultural operations of female workers can provide a rational basis for recommending methods and implements for performing the agricultural operations most efficiently and safely (Gite and Singh, 1997). Therefore, ergonomical study was conducted for different operations in rice farming system by using various farm implements and machines with female workers. Ergonomical parameters like working heart rate, oxygen consumption rate, energy expenditure rate and relative cost of work load (% of VOR 2max R) of female agricultural workers performing different operations in rice cultivation system were studied. Subjects in the age group of 18 to 45 years were selected for this study. The selected subjects had previous experience of using agricultural implements and machines as they are working in OUAT farm for many years. Everyday the experiment was conducted between 9.00 AM to 1.00 PM. The duration of each trial was kept 20 min continuously for recording of heart rate and oxygen consumption rate of subject. The heart rate, oxygen consumption rate during 6P th P to 20P th P min of work for each subject was measured as one's heart rate and oxygen consumption rate get stable after 3 to 5P th P minute of continuous operation (Vidhu, 2001 and Mohanty, 2004). The energy expenditure rate was computed by multiplying 28.86 kJ/ min with VOR 2 Rfor Indian workers (Nag and Dutta, 1980). It was observed that the maximum aerobic power (VOR 2 max R) of female workers varied from 1.56 to 1.81 l / min. The working heart rate (WHR) during different operations varied from 98.2 to 138.4 beats/min for female workers. The relative cost of work load (RCWL) of different operations varied in the range of 30.6 to 71.2 per cent for female workers. The highest energy expenditure rate (EER) was recorded (24.9 kJ/min) for female workers during conventional threshing operation by beating on stone surface. Design improvement in the existing tools, equipment and methods of work has significant effects onminimizing human strain, fatigue and increasing farm productivity. Extensive ergonomic research on farm operations and practices may generate a great deal of knowledge for the betterment of health, safety and productivity of billions of agricultural workers. In the present study the maximum oxygen consumption during farm operations was noticed in pre germinated paddy seeders (six – row) followed by 4 row paddy transplanter, grain threshing by beating on stone surface, water lifting by Tenda, Bund trimming with spade etc. Relative cost of work load was observed to be higher in weeding, transplanting, sowing seeds with seeders and threshing operations for workers. Sufficient rest pauses should be provided to the female agricultural workers to minimize drudgery and fatigue. The occupational health complaints observed during different field operations have been recorded with the help of a 10 point VAD scale. Each worker recorded the discomfort in their body parts during field operations using the body parts discomfort Score chart. It is observed that female workers perceived heavy exertion after the activity as it is performed under the higher temperature during May-June and maximum humidity level during July-August. Adopting unnatural body postures requiring frequent bending from the waist. Various type musculoskeletal discomforts were noticed especially in the lower and upper back, mid back, buttocks, left and right thigh, clavicle left and right, left & right shoulder etc. The findings of the study suggest that there is an urgent need to reduce drudgery of female workers in various farm activities. Steps should be taken for promotion and demonstration of female friendly tools and equipments so that the fatigue and occupational problems can be minimized.
F1000Research
Agriculture serves as the primary source of income for a substantial number of agricultural workers, with a significant portion of the Indian population, especially in rural areas, engaged in this occupation. However, the health status of female agricultural workers is often adversely affected by various factors, including working conditions, environmental exposure, and other morbidities. As a result, they are at risk of developing several diseases, such as tuberculosis, diabetes, hypertension, lung disease, muscle pain, joint pain, and pesticide poisoning, which constitute the main occupational health concerns in this sector. Unfortunately, despite the prevalence of these health risks, many female agricultural workers do not prioritize their own health and wellbeing. According to the latest survey data by the National sample survey office (NSSO), around 54% of the Indian workforce is engaged in agriculture, mainly in rural areas. There are no unions for female agricultural workers,...
Women in Agriculture: Risks for Occupational Injury within the Context of Gendered Role
Journal of Agricultural Safety and Health, 2002
This paper examines exposure to occupational injury producing events among women within the context of role and Haddon's Injury Model. According to the 1998 Statistical Abstract of the United States, 23% of farm operators and managers and 19% of farm workers were female. Until recently few studies have focused on occupational injury in farm women. Sociologists suggest that contributing factors may be the gendered division of labor on farms and the invisibility of farm women's work. This gendered division of labor is culturally mediated and influences the types of farm tasks performed and subsequent exposure to agents of injury. Role, commodity and economics all influence the number and types of farm tasks. Women on farms are exposed to a multitude of biologic, chemical, physical, and mechanical agents while performing farm tasks. Whether these exposures result in an injury outcome is dependent upon factors intrinsic to the individual (host), a catalyst that produces the outcome (agent), and external factors (environment). Research to date has focused on the injury event. There is a lack of studies examining both the pre-event phase, and the interaction between host, agent, and environment among women in agriculture.
Health problems faced by female farm workers DUHS 2016 10 1
Women are the backbone of agricultural workforce in all over the world. Pakistani women play an important role in agricultural production. Women covers about 43% of the agricultural labor force generally, therefore women become the cause of development of the countries. But this segment is failing in many parts of the several countries because women, who are commonly an important resource in agriculture and the rural economy, face health problems that decrease their outputs. To find out the socio-economic characteristics of the farm working women as well as the health problems faced by them during on-going farm activities along with the factors which accelerate poor health of farm working women and to give some suggestions to maintain their health in working day, a sample of 160 farm workers females were selected through multistage sampling technique and were interviewed from the rural areas of Tehsil Dera Ghazi Khan. Univariate (frequency distribution and percentage) and Bivariate analysis (Chi square and Gamma Statistics) was carried out. A great majority (90.6%) faced the health problems in last season. A huge majority (95.6%) of the respondents faced the problem of work load; (socio economic stress) physical injuries/sickness (60.0%); mental diseases (95.7%); pesticides related health troubles (93.8%), and asthma (78.8%). Highly significant association was found between uses of pesticide vs health problem. Although most of the females were young, illiterate and working as tenants living with hand to mouth. They were working for economic support of their family so were in socio-economic and mental stress and were also facing physical and reproductive health problems. There is need of full awareness about taking of healthy diet for better health and decrease mental stress among the rural female farm workers. Trainings about health safety measures and nutrition education or medical system should be provided to them through health personnel and social reformers so that they perform their on-farm activities in better way and play positive role in agriculture sector for socio-economic up-lifting at domestic and national level. Key words: Health problems, female farm activities, socio- economic and mental stress, farm related health issues.
Assessment of occupational health hazards among farm workers involved in agricultural activities
Journal of Pharmacognosy and Phytochemistry, 2018
Indian Farm workers are highly involved in various agricultural operations. They perform a sequential work through manual efforts. In the present investigation efforts have been made to assess the occupational risk related to various agriculture activities and to compare the physical strength of male and female farm workers, during manual method to perform agricultural operations. For the study, twenty female and twenty male subjects were selected. From this study, it has been recommended that there is dire need to create awareness among the farm workers about the low cost improved technologies related to flower cultivation which can significantly improve the livelihood security and working conditions of farm workers. It will also reduce the level of occupational risk and enhance the physical strength of the workers.