Agriculture Industry / Sugar Industry

Agro-Industry/Sugar Industry

Contents

Agriculture

2735 million people in the world are engaged in farming.
10 % in developed countries & 60 % developing countries.
ILO estimates: from a total of 335,000 fatal workplace accidents worldwide, 170,000 agricultural workers are killed each year.
Farming employs men and women, young & old.
The human effort provides for 70% of the energy required for crop production in developing countries.
Engaged in daily wages.
Workload per person is high. Severe for children.
Education level is low.
Long hours of work resulting in fatigue.
Physical stress is increased by heat & relative humidity. Frequent water consumption & rest breaks avoid beat stress.
Risk of sprains & traumatic injuries due to repetitive labor intensive work.
Direct poisoning can occur by direct contact with Pesticide spray of application equipment.

Harvesting is done mostly manually with sickles.
Lacerations and incised wounds are common in rice and sugarcane fields.
Lifting heavy loads.
Long hours of exposure.
Repetitive motion and awkward or stooped posture (Bending requires 18% more energy then squatting)
Poisonous insects & snakes.
Livestock-related hazards where animal-drawn reapers are used.
Tractors, machinery & grain handling equipment.
Risk of fire during drying/ storage.
Threshing includes separation of grains from the ear heads.
This includes rubbing the ear heads with one’s feet, beating of the harvested crop on a plank, animal treading.
Medium-heavy Work.
Pedal threshing work is more strenuous then manual threshing.
Results in muscular strain.
Winnowing is a process to separate grains from the chaff by blowing air, using a hand tan or a pedal or motor-driven fan.
Decorticating involves breaking of shells and removal of seeds (groundnut, castor beans). Bodily discomfort due to continuous sitting or squatting posture.

When the crop is ready, it is plucked in the morning between 5 am to 9:30/10 am. After that, it is not very congenial time.
Cotton is stored at the house and thereafter sells it.
Transportation is by trucks, tractors, bullock carts.
Cotton upper: It is like a blower. It removes stones, earth and other foreign particles.
Gin: Single and double roller type gins are there. This process removes the seeds.
Gins are in groups of 40, 60 and 80, 100 in factories.
Press: the cotton is then pressed into bales of 1 ton in a 200 tons hydraulic press.

Sugar cane is brought to the factory by truck tractors or bullock carts.
It is unloaded in the hopper of the crane carrier.
The cane is cut by rotating blades into a fibrous form.
It moves on conveyors to the mill.
It is crushed between grooved rollers to remove juice.
Juice is pumped to a big drum having vacuumed inside and felt fitted from outside, Juice is sucked and mud is separated, while the drum is rotating through the trough which contains juice.
Flakes of mud are separated from outside and further used as manure.
Juice is pumped to juice heater. It is beaten by steam at 20 to 15 psi and pumped to a vessel called quadruple the juice becomes thick.
It is pumped to a crystallizer where molasses and sugar are separated.
The thick product is dropped in the centrifugal basket where it rotates at very high speed. Moisture is totally removed and the sugar is dropped on vibrating screens.
Different grades of sugar are separated on the screen directly filled in gunny bags.
The bags are stitched and conveyed to the warehouse from where it is distributed.

Cane carrier: Fencing from all sides. No one should stand under raised sugar cane by crane.
Crushing rollers: Proper guarding, insulation, foundation, isolation from other areas
Electrical Hazards: Proper earthing & maintenance of electrical equipment.
Fire in bagasse area: No smoking, Fire hydrants.
Bagassosis: Good ventilation, respirators, air monitoring.