Assessment of Environmental Parameters and Occupational Health Hazards of Rural Women in Post Harvest Activities of Assam (original) (raw)
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Occupational Health Hazards of Women in Agriculture - A Study on Bargarh District of Odisha
2021
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.
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 AND THEIR CAUSES AMONG WOMEN IN INDIAN AGRICULTURE.
Women?s contribution to agriculture, whether it is in subsistence farming or commercial agriculture, when measured in number of tasks performed and time spent, is greater than men. The proportion of women in agricultural production and postharvest activities ranges from 20 to 70% and their involvement is increasing in many developing countries, particularly with the development of export-oriented irrigated farming, which is associated with a growing demand for female labour, including migrant workers. Generally, operations performed by men are those that entail use of machinery and animals. Contrary to this, women always rely on manual labour using only their own energy. Not only are women overworked, their work is more arduous than that undertaken by men. Further, since women?s work is largely based on human energy it is considered unskilled and hence less productive. On this basis, women are invariably paid less wage despite their working harder and for longer hours.
Occupational Hazards Among the Agricultural Workers in a Rural Area of South India
International Journal of Medical Toxicology and Forensic Medicine, 2024
Background: Agriculture is one of the most hazardous occupations, employing around 60% of India's workforce. Agricultural workers face occupational hazards in the form of physical, chemical, biological, mechanical, ergonomic, psychosocial, and so on. This study assessed the physical, chemical, biological, and mechanical health hazards among agricultural workers. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted among 400 agricultural workers selected through multistage random sampling in a rural area to assess their occupational hazards. Results: Physical hazards were the most common hazards reported by 390 workers (97.5%), followed by mechanical hazards by 200(50%), and biological hazards by 79(19.7%). Chemical hazards were noted in 136(86.4%) out of 155 participants who used chemicals in the form of pesticides and insecticides. Conclusion: All agricultural workers experience one or the other types of occupational hazards. These hazards have a bearing on the quality of life among the agricultural workers who form the primary workforce in our country and contribute significantly to the economy. It is crucial to ensure a robust health information system to track down and respond to agricultural workers' various health events, develop and implement a need-based intervention program through the formal healthcare system, and prevent and avert occupational health hazards in this group.
Indian Journal of Public Health Research & Development, 2020
Background: India is a land of agriculture. Agriculture plays a vital role in India's economy. Farmers suffer from a multitude of problems; from the socioeconomic problems to that related to their health. Objectives: The study was conducted to assess the occupational health problems and the factors determining the health problems and to assess the health-seeking behavior among the farmers. Methodology: A community-based cross-sectional study was conducted in the rural field practice area of KIMS, Hubli among 324 farmers. A pre-designed semi-structured questionnaire was used for the study. Suitable descriptive and inferential statistics were used for the analysis. Results: Out of 324 farmers, the majority were males, Majority of the study participants were small scale farmers working more than 8 hours a day. Only 3.4% of the farmers used Personal protective measures while farming. Most of the farmers experienced occupational health problems-musculoskeletal problems being the commonest followed by respiratory problems. About 11.4% of the farmers experienced symptoms after pesticide exposure. The prevalence of health problems increases as the age advances and increase in years of work Conclusion: Farmers face many health problems, the occupational health of the farmers should not be neglected as they are the bread makers of the world. There is a need to address the health problems and the measures to reduce these problems.
Assessment of Occupational Health of Workers in Floriculture Industry in Rural Maharashtra
MMJ-A Journal by MIMER Medical College, Pune, India
Introduction: Unskilled agricultural workers are vulnerable to occupational induced health problems. Working in pesticide intensive environment of a polyhouse can lead to various health hazards. There are not many Indian studies regarding health risks and safety practices among floriculture workers and magnitude of the problem in India. Aims and Objectives: To assess occupational morbidities in polyhouse workers in floriculture industry in rural Maharashtra. Material and Methods: A cross sectional study was undertaken in 6 floriculture units of Floriculture Park. Sociodemographic, work and health related variables were recorded using a pretested structured questionnaire. Clinical examination and laboratory investigations were done by medical experts. Results: Overall morbidity was 89.83%, with respiratory problems prevalent in 66.94%, followed by musculoskeletal problems (62.5%). Itching was reported by 42(35.59%) of the study population. Three forth female workers and 23% male workers had pallor. Conclusion: Alarmingly high prevalence (93%) of occupational morbidities found in our study underlines the need of health education to the workers as well as guidelines for safe occupational practices to the owners of the farms
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.
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.
S K Acharya & Riti Chatterjee, 2020
The impact of the green revolution in India has got a dichotomy of both achievements as well as failure. The four pillars of green revolution have contributed to accentuating the productivity level from 55 MT to 120 MT, on the other hand, the fall out of green revolution started eliciting the pernicious effect by increasing heavy metal load in the food chain, drifting of manual labours off the field and the creation of chasms between marginal and rich farmers. The worst victim of these is farm women. A study was conducted with objectives to generate classified information on the occupational hazards of farm women. A study was carried out at Boinchigram village under Pandua Block in Hooghly district of West Bengal with one hundred twenty farm women as respondents. Family income, B.M.I., functional literacy, total calorie consumption used etc variables were taken for collecting data. Farm women are mainly suffering from fever, stomach problems, skin abnormalities, weakness, gynaecological problems, respiratory hazards, kidney malfunction, spinning head, increased heartbeat etc. Total calorie consumed per day and family income plays an important role in this. So, both preventive and curative measures should be taken immediately, otherwise, it will affect the future workforce of Agriculture.
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,...