Development of Anthropometric Data Essential for Development of Appropriate Acha Harvesting Machine for Female Farmers in Plateau State of Nigeria

Abstract

Harvesting acha (Digitaria species) has continued be a major challenge for acha famers. Harvesting the crop is currently by traditional method which is time consuming and expensive. Whereas Regular combines have been used to harvest most other cereals, they are not easily adaptable to acha harvesting due to its unique grain characteristics, and appropriate harvester suited to the characteristics of the seeds are not available due to want of design data. An essential consideration in the development of an appropriate harvester is its ergonomics. Women form the majority of farmers involved in acha harvesting and should be considered in the development of an apprpraite harvesting machine. The objective of this study was to develop an anthropometric data necessary for the development an appropriate harvesting machine for acha. Twenty five women from acha producing region were selected at random in the age range of 20 to 60 years. Ten different body dimensions were measured using a nylon measuring tape. Simple means, Standard Deviations and Percentiles for each dimensional element was determined from data collected. Result obtained showed that the standard deviation of all the body dimensions measured, with the exception of circumference at the waist was low, and the difference between the 95th and 5th percentiles, 3rd and 1st quartiles and between Mean and Median were negligible. The study concluded that the means obtained are fair and true representations of the body dimensions of the agricultural women in the acha growing regions of Plateau State, Nigeria and recommended the use of these data for design of appropriate acha harvesting and other pedestrian controlled machines.