Musculoskeletal Disorders, Energy Use, and Costs of Human Labor for Paddy Cultivation in Northern Iran

International Journal of Agricultural Management and Development

مقاله 5، دوره 7، شماره 4، اسفند 2017، صفحه 439-446   

نوع مقاله: Research Article

نویسندگان

Amin Nikkhah^{* 1}؛ Zeynab Kougir-Chegini²؛ Armaghan Kosari-Moghadam³؛ Farima Nikkhah⁴

¹Young Researchers and Elite Club, Rasht Branch, Islamic Azad University, Rasht, Iran

²Department of Biosystems Engineering, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Mashhad, Iran

³Department of Agricultural Machinery Engineering, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Tabriz, Tabriz, Iran

⁴Department of Management, Payame Noor University, Rasht, Iran

چکیده

In this study, musculoskeletal disorders, energy consumption and input costs of paddy labors have been studied in cultivation, crop protection, and harvesting rice in Northern Iran, Guilan province. The sample size of the study consisted of 74 paddy workers of the study region. The data were collected through Nordic questionnaire and semi-structured interviews. The results indicated that the labor input energy of cultivation, crop protection, and harvesting were 674.6, 356.8 and 205.9 MJha^-1, respectively. The total labor input costs were determined to be 22,860,000 IRRs ha^-1. Lower back, back and knees were the most common areas where paddy workers were feeling pain. There were significant differences among the age, working hours and working years of healthy and relatively healthy poor paddy workers (p<0.01). One-fifth of the selected farmers self-reported that their health was at a very poor level. Overall, considering the relatively high costs and the different types of common musculoskeletal disorders related to rice cultivation in this province and also the side effects of using the painkillers in the working season, it is recommended to invest and accelerate the process of mechanization of rice farming in Guilan Province of Iran. 

کلیدواژه‌ها

energy؛ Ergonomics؛ Human labor؛ Paddy workers؛ Rice

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