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Weeding, sowing, dibbling, harvesting, threshing etc. are the important farm activities performed by the women in maximum number. Besides, other farm activities performed by rural women are removing stalks, bagging picking, cleaning grains, bundling etc. The useful technologies/tools to reduce women drudgery are given below:
Women- friendly tools:
Improved sickle
Sickle is the most important tool that the women use for harvesting of crops, cutting of grass, green fodder and hay. But this conventional tool is heavy in weight with manual labour intensive shape of blades. This reduces the work efficiency, increases time input and physical labour.
Use of improved sickle over the conventional sickle has following advantages:
- Improved sickle is lighter in weight.
- Shape of blade is appropriate for cutting.
- Grip of handle is convenient.
- Blade has serrated edge, which reduces the cutting force and increases the cutting efficiency.
- Sharpness of the blade has more efficient long life of cutting edge than the normal sickle.
- Handle and blade are fixed with a metal sheet that provides firmness to blade while cutting and ensures safety in use.
- The quality of metal used for blade provides long life. Protect your hand and minimize physical stress by using improved sickle
Tubular Maize Sheller
This is a hand- operated tool to shell the maize from dried cobs. The Sheller is held in left hand and the cob held in right hand is inserted in it. By twisting the cob shelling is done.
Advantages:
- The work efficiency of the tool to shell maize is very high.
- Reduces the physical strain and fatigue.
- Reduces the shelling time by 35 to 55 percent.
- Easy to handle
Groundnut/ Castor decorticator
This is a manually operated equipment to decorticate kernels from groundnut pods. It consists of frame, handle and oscillating arm having cast iron shoes with triangular projections suitable to do shelling. The groundnuts are crushed between the frame and shoe and then the kernels are separated from the pods. By changing the frame it can be used to decorticate the castor pods.
Advantages:
- Muscular pain of fingers due to working in repetitive fashion for long hours can be minimized.
- Reduces time of decortications.
- Cost of decorticator is affordable
- Single women can operate easily.
Weeders:
Grubber weeder
It is a manually operated tool that is useful for weeding of crops in row. It consists of a long handle, ferrule, three tines and blades.
Peg type dry land weeder
It is a weeder suitable for weeding and interculture in crops like groundnut, sunflower, soyabean and sorghum. It consists of handle, adjustable ‘ V’ blade and peg holding roller.
Wheel hoe weeder
It is also a manually operated implement used in crops in black soil region. It consists of twin wheels, frame, V blade, U clamp, scrapper and handle. Weed cutting and uprooting are done through push and pull action.
Paddy weeder
It is a push type manual operated weeder useful for weeding in rice crop.
Advantages of weeders:
- Simple to operate which improves the work posture
- Light in weight
- Time saving
- Minimises the stress on the body.
Use weeders and avoid the drudgery of working in squatting and bending postures.
Grain cleaner:
It is a hand-operated equipment to clean the grain by sieving. It has a frame, grading screen, rod, handle and shutter and is being operated on any elevated point with four ropes. 5-10 kgs of grain is fed into the cleaner and it swings to and fro to sieve the grain
Advantages:
- Reduces time
- Single woman can operate.
- Separates impurities like stubbles, chaff and dirt.
- Cleaning of grain can be done with minimum physiological workload.
User- friendly technologies:
Seed cum fertilizer drill
A farmwomen has to walk 48 kms in one hectare of land to drop the seed behind the country plough. This drudgery causing physical strain can be minimized with the use of seed cum fertilizer drill
Advantages:
- Elimination long distance walking
- Mechanically drops seed and fertilizer at a time
- Time saving
- Cost effective
Use seed cum fertilizer drill minimize walking and physical strain
Dibbler:
It is a manually operated equipment to sow the bold and medium size seed in a single row. Suitable for dibbling soybean, sorghum and maize in small plots. It consists of a jaw type seed placement device, sed metering system, lever type power transmission system and seed box with delivery system.
Advantages:
- Reduces grip fatigue.
- Reduces muscular fatigue of users.
- Light in weight and easy to move.
- Comfortable working posture
Rotary dibbler:
It is manually operated push type equipment for dibbling bold and medium size seeds in rows at uniform spacing in well prepared soil. Suitable for maize, soybean, sorghum, pigeon pea and bengal gram crops in black and alluvial soil. It consists of seed hopper, seed delivery jaw, jaw operating lever, wooden roller, handle and transport cum press wheel.
Advantages:
- Reduces the drudgery of back pain of manual sowing.
- Provides comfortable working posture.
- Saves time.
Paddy Row seeder
It is a manually operated implement useful for direct sowing of paddy seed in rows in puddle fields. Row seeders with single drum, double drum and four drum row seeders are available. Sungle and double drum row seeders can be used by a single woman, whereas four drum row seeder needs two women to pull the implement.
Advantages:
- Minimizes women’s drudgery of transplantation activity
- Reduces muscular pain in trunk and neck.
- Increases work efficiency.
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