Anthropometric Profile of Male Rice Farmers in Oriental Mindoro, Philippines for Local Agricultural Tool, Machinery, and Workstation Design

Abstract

A survey intended to develop the anthropometric profile of male rice farmers in Oriental Mindoro, Philippines for local agricultural tools, machinery, and workstation design was conducted. Thirty-nine different body measurements were collected from 162 male rice farmers from various rice-producing municipalities and cities of Oriental Mindoro. The age distribution of the respondents ranged from 27 to 64 years old with an average age of 51 years old. Around 53.70% of the respondents have an age bracket from 51 years old to 64 years old which implies the ageing rice farmer of the province. The average standing height of the male rice farmers in the province was 161.9 cm with a standard deviation of 6.11 cm. The 5th and 95th percentile of standing height, which was the common reference for the design to accommodate 90 percent of the population, were 152.1 cm and 172.9 cm, respectively. The anthropometric data of the male rice farmers in Oriental Mindoro was compared to the data gathered from the male farmers in Laguna. In summary, 15 of the anthropometric data were not statistically significant while 18 were statistically significant. This only indicates that the physique of male farmers from Laguna was different from Oriental Mindoro. These variations in body measurements suggest that region-specific anthropometric data could be essential in optimizing the ergonomic design of locally made agricultural tools, machinery, and workstations. But in the absence of anthropometric data for other provinces in CALABARZON and MIMAROPA Regions, the anthropometric profiles of male rice farmers from Laguna and Oriental Mindoro can be used as guides in the design.