Anthropometry of South Eastern Nigeria Agricultural Workers

An anthropometric survey of Nigerian farm workers was conducted from the south eastern zone of Nigeria in order to obtain information on the body dimensions, which may be used in ergonomic design of farm equipments. The samples which include males and females involved in different agricultural activities were randomly selected from the five states that made up the South east geopolitical zone, namely: Anambra, Abia, Ebonyi, Enugu and Imo State. Thirty (30) structural body dimensions necessary for the design of farm equipments/machineries were identified and the survey was conducted on 500 farm workers (300males and 200 females) within the age limit of 18 to 50 years. The data obtained from the measurements were statistically analysed and compared with those obtained from south western Nigeria passengers in buses and Agricultural workers in other countries. Results revealed that the mean stature of South eastern male farm workers was 163.4 ± 5.84 and female was 156.8 ± 5.28. The comparison between male and female data indicates that male agricultural workers are bigger than the females in all body dimensions except waist circumference, hand breadth and hip breadth. The mean values of waist circumference, hand breadth and hip breadth for the male were 83.2 ± 4.84, 8.2 ± 0.32 and 32.6 ± 1.84; whereas the values for female were 88.4 ± 5.08, 8.7 ± 0.77 and 37.4 ± 2.43 respectively. The data also showed significant differences among various body dimensions while comparing with other south western states. Some structural body dimensions compared with other ethnic populations of the world indicated slight variations in values. Based on these findings, it is highly recommended that more research be carried out by concern authorities in different states of the country in order to generate necessary data for all categories of people especially farm workers in Nigeria for proper machine design.