Development of A Banana Harvesting Stand for Reduced Drudgery in Banana Harvesting Operation

Banana (Musa spp) is one of the traditional fruits cultivated by man from prehistoric time. Harvesting of banana bunch is a tedious work in conventional type harvesting. Average weight of banana bunch will be 25 kg to 35kg and in case of robusta and pooven, it will go more than 55 kg to 60 kg. The traditional method of banana bunch harvesting is done by a team of two workers (one cutter and one supporter). The conventional type harvesting causes drudgeries and workers face different types of muscoskeletal problems. Wrist pain, shoulder pain and back pain were the main problemsreportedby banana workers. Because of these problems, an ergonomic study was conducted on banana bunch harvesting. According to the crop parameters and anthropometric data, a banana stand was designed for reducing the human muscoskeletal problems and energy expenditure in banana harvesting. It was made with high strength light weight aluminium weighing 4.5 kg. So, it is easy to carry to banana plantation and operate within the banana plantation. The banana stand helps to reduce the stress in the workers especially the backer and reduces the injuries, body pain and muscoskeletal problems of banana workers. The banana stand was fabricatedin such a way that it can be dismantledand assembled easily. The weight of the unit was 4.5 kg and was easy tocarry within the banana plantation by a single person. It supports the whole weight of the bunch at the time of harvesting. The height of the unit was 2020 mmand widthwas880 mm. The total costof the unit is $ 67.