Ergonomics aspects of crop production in tropical developing countries: a literature review

Little is known about the extent to which ergonomics factors limit manual crop production operations in developing countries. This paper presents the findings of a review of the ergonomics literature, performed to identify and quantify such constraints in the tropics. Most of the literature reviewed reported studies of land preparation and weeding tasks. The practical application of the data from many of the studies was found to be limited. However, there was sufficient evidence to show that the use of different handtools to carry out a given task could influence the physiological cost incurred by the user, and that some tools performed more effectively than others in the completion of that task. This indicates that the application of ergonomics principles has the potential to relieve at least some of the drudgery associated with agricultural tasks carried out by resource-poor farmers in the tropics. The review highlights the need for a more comprehensive methodological and participative approach, and outlines a number of issues to be addressed in future research.