Assessment of drudgery reducing tool: harvest bag (cot bag) used by the farm women for harvesting chilli

Women form the backbone of the agriculture comprising the majority of agricultural labourers in India. Technological empowerment of women is the need of the day for betterment of agriculture and agricultural production system. Hence the study was conducted on assessment of drudgery reducing tool, harvest bag (cot bag) used for chilli harvesting by the farm women. The study was conducted in Dharwad district of Karnataka state comprising 150 farm women. The field validation of cot bag used for harvesting chilli was increased on all the parameters with significant differences. Harvest bag showed positive and significant performance as compared to the traditional method in the various drudgery parameters like rating on work demand, manual loads operative, rating on difficulty perception and work load perception. Significant difference was not observed in feeling of exhaustion during work. Farm women gave maximum score to pain in lower back (5.80) followed by pain in knee (3.53) and upper back (2.87) while harvesting chilli using conventional method. Farm women gave maximum scores to pain in lower back (5.90) followed by pain in knee (3.70) and upper leg (3.47) in improved method of harvesting the chilli.