Journal of Scientific Research and Reports

Purpose: The study aimed to evaluate the engineering performance, labour productivity, drudgery reduction, economic feasibility, and user acceptability of the manually operated Dweep Coconut Leaf Midrib Separator for separating the midrib from individual coconut leaflets among women farmers in Car Nicobar Island.

Design/Methodology/Approach: A field evaluation was conducted with 16 women farmers from four villages of Car Nicobar Island. Each participant evaluated both the traditional manual method and the Dweep Coconut Leaf Midrib Separator, with five replications of 100 fresh coconut leaflets for each treatment. Engineering performance, labour requirement, damage, separation efficiency, drudgery reduction, economic parameters, and user perception were assessed. Mean values and percentage improvement or reduction were calculated, and a paired Student's t-test was used to compare the two methods.

Findings: The Dweep Coconut Midrib Leaf Separator reduced the time required to separate 100 leaflets from 16.79 to 11.87 min (29.33% reduction) and increased output capacity from 358.06 to 507.04 midribs h⁻¹ (41.57% improvement). Damage was reduced from 12.25% to 6.08% (50.41% reduction), while separation efficiency increased from 87.75% to 93.93%. Labour requirement decreased from 2.80 to 1.98 man-h per 1000 midribs (29.33% reduction). The differences in major performance parameters were highly significant (P < 0.01). The separator also showed a favourable B:C ratio of 1.71, with estimated annual savings of ₹16,912.50 per operator and a payback period of approximately 5.9 days. User perception was highly positive, with an overall mean score of 4.65/5.

Practical Implications: The Dweep Coconut Leaf Midrib Separator provides a simple, low-cost, and women-friendly mechanisation option for coconut leaflet separation. Its ability to reduce labour requirement and processing time while improving productivity and product quality makes it suitable for women farmers, self-help groups, and small-scale coconut broom and handicraft enterprises in the Nicobar Islands.

Theoretical Implications: The study demonstrates that simple, human-powered mechanisation can simultaneously improve engineering efficiency, labour productivity, and occupational drudgery outcomes in traditional coconut-based livelihood activities. It provides a basis for evaluating gender-responsive mechanization technologies in remote island agricultural systems.

Originality/Value: The study provides a field-based quantitative evaluation of the Dweep Coconut Leaf Midrib Separator by integrating engineering performance, labour productivity, drudgery reduction, economic feasibility, and women farmers' user perception. The findings provide practical evidence supporting the wider dissemination of a locally appropriate, affordable, and women-oriented coconut leaf-processing technology in the Nicobar Islands.