Physiological Problems Faced by Tribal Farm Women in Performing the Selected Farming Activities
Rashmi Rekha Kalita
Department of Home Science, Rupahi College, India.
Sayanika Borah *
Department of Extension and Communication Management, College of Community Science, Assam Agricultural University, India.
H. C. Kalita
SMS (Agronomy), ICAR- KVK Goalpara, Assam, India.
*Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Abstract
Agriculture is the basic livelihood provider for most of the world’s population. Most of the people use traditional farming tools in their farming. Because traditional tools are heavy in weight, they face different types of physiological health problems. In this paper we discussed the physiological problems faced by tribal farm women in performing the selected farming activities that were carried out in the Majuli district of Assam. From the selected district, one subdivision and from one subdivision, one block was selected. From the selected block, three villages were selected randomly. One hundred (100) respondents were selected randomly from each of the villages. Data collection was done using an interview cum questionnaire. A total of 300 tribal farm women were selected who were engaged in farming activities for the present study. The study revealed that the majority of the tribal farm women (85.00%) faced headaches in doing different farming activities. The data also stated that headache ranked as I with a mean score of 0.93; followed by cuts and wounds; Swollen and sore hands; feet, dizziness, insect bite; Irritation in eyes, nose, throat; Lethargic; Allergy; Coughing; Chest pain &Vomiting and Suffocation ranked as II, III, IV, V, VI, VII, VIII, IX and X with a mean score of 0.90, 0.88, 0.87, 0.86, 0.85, 0.71, 0.67 and 0.63 respectively. Data also revealed that significant association between respondents' physiological problems and selected farming activities because the calculated "F" value of physiological problems (2.219*) is lower than the tabulated "F" value of physiological problems (845.245).
Keywords: Physiological problems, farming tools, agriculture, farming activities, traditional tools