Study of Nutritional Status of Tribal & Non Tribal Marginal Farm Women

Manisha Choudhary, Aruna Palta, Abhaya Joglekar

Abstract: The present study was carried out on300 marginal farm women of Raigarh district of Chhattisgarh State in India. The district comprises of 9 blocks, out of which two tribal and two non tribal blocks were selected for the study. The marginal farm women aged 18-45 years were selected by purposive random sampling method. The data were collected with the help of self developed, pretested questionnaire. Height and weight of the subjects was taken using standard technique. Body Mass Index (BMI) was calculated from height and weight measurement. The study revealed that there was no significant difference between average heights of both tribal and non tribal women but as far as weight and BMI is concerned, the figures were higher for non-tribal farm women than their tribal counterparts. It was also concluded that both the groups of farm women had lower weights and heights when compared to recommendations of Indian Council of Medical Research. (55 kg as average body weight and 151cm as average height. )

Keywords: Nutritional Status, Anthropometric measurements, Farm women, Tribal women, Non tribal women