A Group of Students of IPB Created an Ergonomics Lettuce Harvester for Farmers
Agriculture is one of the pillar sectors of Indonesia’s economy as it keeps more than half of the workforce employed. As Indonesia’s economic has enormous promise, therefore the future of Indonesian agriculture should also be better than ever. To enable Indonesia to reach some Millennium Development Goals, Indonesia should make a lot of agricultural innovations. One of which is the improvement of the cultivation of vegetable crops for daily consumption. Have you ever imagined simple steps to reduce feelings of fatigue during high-intensity work periods by farmers? Relatively simple changes can make a big difference. Ergonomic changes should be put into operation as they will reduce the chance of sprains and strains. So farmers won’t experience such strains and sprains when they to cultivate their plants?
Lettuce (Lactuca sativa) is an annual plant of the daisy family, Asteraceae. It is most often grown as a leaf vegetable, but sometimes for its stem and seeds. Lettuce is grown in different areas of Indonesia year round. Lettuce is most often used for salads, although it is also seen in other kinds of food, such as soups, sandwiches and wraps; it can also be grilled. Lettuce is grown for its stems, which are eaten either raw or cooked in Indonesia. Lettuce doesn’t have a strong taste which is why it complements many foods. Lately, Lettuce also goes to the higher level, they used as garnishing food.
Lettuce farmers are spread in many parts of Indonesia, although currently hydroponic lettuce producer are almost everywhere, but many farmers are still practicing conventional farming system for lettuce. To assist them reducing the chance of sprains and strains, a group of students of Bogor Agricultural Universsity (IPB) who were selected to join Kelompok Program Kreativitas Mahasiswa bidang Karsa Cipta (PKM-KC Student Creativity Program for Karsa Cipta), The Student Creativity Program Team (PKM), consists of Maulana Syafiq Karuniawan, Aulia Taufid Rida, Radis Selfiana Sari, and Adnan Tagor Harahap, experienced bad problem when they harvested their lettuce using conventional lettuce farming. Manually harvesting lettuce has been carried out by pulling one by one of the lettuce plants from the ground, then collected in a harvest basket. Such harvesting method is considered not ergonomic, requires a lot of manpower, and inefficient compared with harvesting using the harvest.
"We created the Ergonomic Lettuce Harvester “Eleh”. It was designed for conventional lettuce farming in Indonesia. “Eleh”. can be used in agricultural land planted with a regular planting spacing system. “Eleh” is designed to harvesting easier, and to maintain the physical quality of lettuce during the harvest process, " said Maulana Syafiq Karuniawan, as team leader.
There are several parts of this tool: iron frames, main motor machine, harvesting container, transmission axle, and rotary knife. Rotary blades will cut the lettuce from the stem, rotary knife system will continuously moving across the line of planting lettuce in the bed. The cut Lettuce will be transported to the harvesting container through the transmission shaft and lettuce will get to the container.
The tool is ergonomically designed to increase the comfort of lettuce harvesters, so they won’t experience such strains and sprains. It is very efficiency, and “Eleh” will also prevent damage of the crops. The harvested lettuce will be kept the container system available in tool.
“Eleh” Prototype was produced in Bogor, and it is expected to be implemented on agricultural land, especially horticulture crops. Development and expansion of such tools for other types of vegetables is in progress. They will undertake some tests to replace rotary knives according to the type of plant. Finally, “Eleh” is expected to assist the community to improve their life as they won’t experience strains and sprains when they harvest their crops. (Wied)
