Awareness of the farm women regarding selected drudgery reduction technologies in agriculture and animal husbandry

Technology utilized to produce farm equipment that aids in farming is referred to as agricultural technology. Almost every step of the agricultural process has been covered by agricultural machinery. Equipment for tilling the soil, sowing seeds, watering the land, growing crops, safeguarding them from pests and weeds, harvesting, threshing grain, feeding livestock, and sorting and packing the goods are among them. The development of the agriculture sector has been significantly influenced by technology. Additionally, women are heavily involved in farming, accounting for about 43% of the global agricultural work force—up to 70% in some nations. However, there is a lack of sufficient awareness and access to advanced technologies that could alleviate their workload and enhance productivity, in contrast to their male counterparts. Hence the present study has been conducted to make a positive impact by empowering them and bring awareness. The present study is an action research which aims to technologically empower the farm women in selected drudgery reducing technologies. The awareness of the respondents about any technology may initiate the sequence of later stages that leads to adoption or rejection of the technology. Consequently, a study was conducted to assess the awareness of farm women concerning specific technologies aimed at reducing drudgery. The farm women were asked whether they have heard, seen, knew the name, cost and power required to operate the technologies. There were 14 technologies related to agriculture i.e. wheel hoe, manual rice transplanter, manual seed drill, knapsack sprayer, serrated sickle, manual bund former, maize sheller, ground nut decorticator, pedal operated thresher, hanging type cleaner cum grader, ground nut striper, battery operated sprayer, fertilizer broadcaster and bhindi plucker and 5 technologies related to animal husbandry were rake, shovel, moving stool, wheel barrow and chaff cutter. Result of the study reveal that none of the respondents had heard and seen other technologies like maize sheller, manual seed drill, ground nut decorticator and hanging type cleaner cum grader. Other technologies namely rake, shovel, wheel hoe and moving stool were heard and seen by very few of the respondents (0.83 to 12.5%). It can be said that majority of the respondents were not aware of the selected drudgery reduction technologies in animal husbandry.