Performance of twin wheel hoe in Narmada district of Gujarat

Women constitute a major and vital work force in agriculture. Nearly 84 per cent of all economically active women in India are engaged in agriculture and allied activities. But the irony is that, most of the agricultural equipment and tools are designed keeping in mind men's physiological parameters which are substantially different from women's physiological parameters. Even the tools and equipment should not only be tailor made for women while they should be designed according to local conditions and demand. It is necessary to evaluate agricultural tools, equipment and technologies in gender perspective for increasing productivity and reducing the drudgery and also to promote women specific production and processing technologies in rural areas. Hence, the study is focused on ascertaining the acceptability of twin wheel hoe tools for weeding by the farm women and finding out the problems/constraints perceived by them during use of tools. The research study was conducted in purposively selected Gopaliya village of Dediapada taluka of Narmada district in Gujarat. Hence, the study was done to know the performance of weeder that is twin wheel hoe in reducing drudgery among women engaged in weeding activity. The results showed that the weeding were done with man power then cost of work was ₹/ha/Day 2592 during the weeding activity performed by improved tool, the twin wheel hoe cost was 1650 one time purchase cost followed by time saving also affected. Data were collected through structured interview schedule and through field operation observations of individual women farmer. Results of the study showed significant change in drudgery of women farmers after using twin wheel hoe during weeding work with less difficulty more postural comfort.