Perancangan Alat Bantu Pengangkut Hasil Panen Holtikultura Yang Ergonomis (Studi Kasus: Petani Sawi Desa Sempajaya, Berastagi)

Abstract

Sempajaya Village is located in the Berastagi District, Karo Regency, North Sumatra, with the majority of the population working as horticultural farmers. The main product produced is mustard greens. The process of transporting the harvest requires farmers to bend, lift, and push heavy loads using a cart that is poorly supportive and uncomfortable to use. As a result, the body posture becomes unnatural and non-ergonomic, causing farmers to complain of pain in several musculoskeletal areas. Therefore, there is a need for the design of an ergonomic and innovative horticultural harvest transport aid that can reduce musculoskeletal complaints and discomfort associated with previously used aids. The objective of this research is to design an ergonomic, economical, and optimal agricultural transport aid that improves farmers' posture to reduce musculoskeletal complaints. This research uses the Rapid Entire Body Assessment (REBA) method, the Nordic Body Assessment questionnaire, and an anthropometric approach. This research resulted in the development of a more ergonomic agricultural transport aid design that can improve the posture of farmers. The specifications of the agricultural transport aid design include, among others, handles with a height of 101 cm and a distance between handles of 41 cm based on the anthropometric data of farmers to minimize non-ergonomic postures, a container size of 120 cm in length and 80 cm in width adjusted to the size of the sacks used for agricultural products to ensure a more balanced load, three wheels with solid tires to facilitate outdoor use and minimize perceived load, and a lever used to lift the container to ease the transportation process.