Use of Improved Sickle for Drudgery Reduction in Farmwomen of Gir-Somnath District of Gujarat

Most of the works performed by farmwomen are tedious as well as time consuming. Also many of these operations are traditionally done in varying body posture. The present study was carried out with the objectives to evaluate the performance of improved sickle for reducing the drudgery level and harvesting efficiency by farmwomen using newly introduced and traditional tools. It was noticed that improved sickle resulted in higher harvesting efficiency than the ordinary sickle. The rate of perceived opinion for improved sickle fall in the category of highly acceptable tool as compared to simple sickle. The results of the study showed that improved sickle was helpful in reducing the drudgery level in which physical tiredness was medium to law, time saving was 12 to 20 per cent and cost saving 10 to 14 per cent compared to ordinary sickle.