Drudgery Reduction of Farm Women by Wheel Hoe in Intercultural Operations

Wheel hoe is used by the farm women for weeding purposes. The present study was carried out at Rajapur village in Datia district of Madhya Pradesh. The study measured the changes in heart rate (ΔHR), area covered during weeding and cardiac cost of work (CCW) of the subjects in traditional methods of weeding (squatting and using a sickle) vis-a-vis a wheel hoe. Two tailed t-test was used to evaluate the statistical significance of the treaments. From the study, it was established that usage of wheel hoe led to significant (p<0.05) decrease in ΔHR and CCW, while the weeding area registered a significant increase (p<0.05). Drudgery reduction varied between 75 – 45 per cent, with an average of 60.45 per cent. The results underscored the importance of wheel hoe usuage by farm women for intercultural operations leading to reduced exhaustion and presumably happy farm women.