**Abstract**

Women in India are the major workforce in agriculture and perform almost all the agricultural activities. Women constitute 25.51% of the total work force in the country. The rural women play a vital role in agriculture and other agro based processing activities. They spent more time on post-harvest activities than those pre-harvest activities. Environmental and occupational health issues among agricultural workers expressed high levels of concern about working in hot weather, agricultural injuries, pesticides, awkward posture and drudgery prone activities. User Eco-friendly tools can increase the working efficiency and reduce the working load health hazards on farm activities during agricultural activities.

**Keywords:** Agriculture Activities, musculoskeletal Problem, drudgery, health, work Load, women Participation, postural discomfort

### **1. Introduction**

Women comprise approximately 25.51% of the total work force in India as per [1], of which approximately 18.5% and 24.9% are agricultural labourers and cultivators respectively while 47.5% work in household and other important agricultureaiding fields. Women fulfill many crucial roles in the farming sectors, all the way from being general farmers to farming-entrepreneurs [2]. It was observed that more than 75 per cent women are involved in activities like winnowing, weeding, grading, threshing and cleaning of field farm operations [3]. If women were to be given the same opportunities in utilizing resources as men, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization estimates a rise in yields by up to 30%, which could have a chain effect by which a rise in total agricultural output by 4% is predicted along with reduction of the general hunger in population by 12–17%, which is about 100 million people [4]. The participation of farm women in agricultural activities suffer both by nature wise and extent wise by multiple of things including, local dimension in nature of labor, socio-economic strata of the farm families, ancestral family customs, change in nature of activities thanks to mechanization, introduction of your time and labour saving implements and ever changing nature of agro-climatic conditions [5].

Ergonomics is a multidisciplinary science that activities to make a better fit between the work and the worker to ensure their healthiness and well-being. It emphasizes on designing and arranging things so that workers can use them easily and safely. The International Ergonomics Association [6] defined ergonomics as a science that deals with understanding the interaction between humans and other elements of a socio-technical system. Using ergonomics in agriculture helps in reducing and removing the risks involved in work, machines, vehicles and the work environment which includes tools and materials, method of work, ambient conditions, physical environment and organization of work. Ergonomics and sustainable agriculture should go hand in hand with each other. Women contribute in overall farm production--average contribution--is estimated to be in the range of 60 to 65 percent of the total labour and in certain areas, the same contribution is even higher in percentages. Unfortunately even today, agriculture related activities rank as one of the most hazardous activities as it relies mostly on manual labour and people working in the fields of agriculture are exposed to a multiple varieties of hazards that are extremely damaging to their physical condition and well-being. People from rural communities and background often lack orientation and knowledge on the health related issues that they face. Farmwomen consider pain as a traditional part of work or let us say their *Karma* and seek medical assistance when the condition becomes ruthless or disabling. This same issue carries over to preventive measures designed to reduce the incidence of musculoskeletal injuries or other hazardous work exposures [7]. It was reported by [8] that the share of women labour force in agricultural operations is expected to be 55 percent by 2025 A.D. They participate in several farm operations putting many hours of productive manual labor daily. It is duly reported [9] that women contribute to plentiful responsibilities to undertake extensive range of duties both in the home and outside but their partaking is considered insignificant by the social order. They are at length involved in a variety of farm operations like transplanting, weeding, harvesting, processing, marketing and selling of food grains, fruits and vegetables etc. These activities not only require substantial time and energy but also are the sources of tremendous amount of drudgery. Drudgery, which is largely, envisaged as physical and mental damage, anguish, repetitiveness and hardship that are experienced by farmwomen while performing these farm operations. The drudgery prone situations lead to an assortment of health and mechanical hazards, which creates physical exhaustion fatigue and low productivity.
