Productivity Improvement of Agro Based Farm Workers using Ergonomic Approach

By : T. Ramesh Babu, N. Dinesh Karthik

Page No: 123-131

Abstract
The agriculture sector satisfies the needs of human beings by providing food to survive and employment to a large amount of workforce. Over 58 percent of rural households depend on agriculture as their principal means of livelihood in India. Agricultural export constitutes 10 percent of the country’s exports. Agriculture is becoming a risky occupation because of various factors ranging from economic problems to psychological issues faced by agriculture workers. As per the recent survey taken by National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO), agriculture occupies nearly 49 percentage of total workforce and there are 24.6 crore workers employed in agricultural sector. But low income from agriculture sector will hinder the growth of this sector. Agriculture workers have been undergoing many challenges such as low income, uncertainty in monsoon, no guaranteed job and income. They are also undergoing many physical problems because the farming work needs more physical excretion and posture. In this paper, the authors are making an attempt to study the postural problems using ergonomic study and highlight the importance of ergonomics on productivity improvement.

Authors :
T. Ramesh Babu : Professor, Department of Industrial Engineering, Anna University, Chennai,
N. Dinesh Karthik : PG Scholar, Department of Industrial Engineering, Anna University, Chennai.