Improved Technologies for Enhancing Work Performance of Women in Agriculture

Abstract

Women are involved both in production as well as processing activities in agriculture. They continue to perform various farm operations using traditional tools and equipment, which cause lot of drudgery. Appropriate drudgery j reducing agricultural technologies would contribute to reduction in drudgery, increase in capability, productivity and ultimately lighten the workload and thereby improve efficiency of women in agriculture. Hence the present study was conducted to assess the impact of improved drudgery reducing agricultural technologies in comparison with traditional methods and the acceptance of these technologies by the rural farm women. The results depicted that in all the selected agricultural activities, namely hand weeding, harvesting of wheat, groundnut decortication, cotton harvesting and top dressing of fertilizer, improved drudgery reducing technologies hastened the activity and proved better than the traditional method/technologies used to perform the selected agricultural activities except cotton harvesting. Farm women were satisfied with the human power used in using improved technologies in hand weeding using saral kurpi, groundnut decotication using sitting and standing type groundnut decorticators and top dressing of fertilizer using the fertilizer trolley. As the improved drudgery reducing technologies increased the pace of work and reduced labour needed to perform the selected activities - hand weeding, harvesting of wheat, groundnut decortication and top dressing of fertilizer. Farm women have accepted the improved technologies and they could improve the work environment and have increased their efficiency.