Ergonomic investigation on spraying task performance in paddy farming activities

The commodity rice in Indonesia and the administration of rice fields are given particular focus by the government. Spraying activities are known to increase the risk of exposure to chemicals for farmers, resulting in a loss of working days for 3–7 days. It is necessary to carry out ergonomic interventions for spraying activities to make the activity safer for farmers. This research aims to identify the ergonomics and safety problems of spraying activities in rice field farming, to analyse and develop intervention parameters to solve issues in spraying activities, and to generate innovative design concepts to overcome spraying problems. Prospective users assign importance weights to the twelve functional requirements. The light sprayer has the highest weight, meaning users need a lightweight sprayer. The relationship between the customer and the functional requirements can be strong, moderate, weak, and zero (no ties). This relationship determines the technical importance of the rating. From the assessment of the relationship between the customer and the functional requirements, it can be seen which technical specifications should be prioritised for developing the product. An automated system is the technical specification that should be prioritised because it has the most significant weight on meeting the consumer needs.