Mental health of women in agriculture and productivity in agriculture

Abstract

The pivotal role of the farm women involves activities within and outside the four wall of her home. A study was conducted to know the mental health of women in agriculture and the association with productivity of their land. The descriptive study was conducted with a sample of 120 farm women selected by two stage stratified sampling in the Amaniganj block of Faizabad (Ayodhya) district of Uttar Pradesh. The mental health check list of Dr. Promod Kumar was administered to examine the health status of the women in agriculture. The consolidated data analyzed revealed that mental health (MH) of the women was moderate poor (41.67%), good health (33.33%) and 25 per cent reported highly good MH. Most of the farm women aged 40-50 years had moderate poor MH. Women exclusively engaged in agriculture (34.17%) were found to have moderate poor MH (18.33%) and a few (5.83%) had highly good MH; Among 63.33% women engagement in farm operations along with household work were having moderate poor and good MH (23.33% each) and 16.67% had highly good MH. Women involved in sedentary farm operations had moderate poor MH (22.5%), good MH (16.67%) and rest (8.33%) had highly good MH but women involved in heavy farm operations had highly good MH (10%), good MH (33.33%) and 41.67% had moderate poor MH. Among the women who reported low and average productivity, majority were found to have moderate poor MH (40% and 66.66% respectively) and women in agriculture with high productivity had moderate poor and good MH (35.71% each) and 28.58% of the women with high productivity had highly good MH.