FORCE ANALYSIS OF THE OPERATIONAL TAJAK BEDANDAN AS A BASIS FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF LOCAL AGRICULTURAL MACHINERY

Abstract

Tajak that has been used for hundreds of years by traditional local farmers in South Kalimantan has shown its excellence. It is the appropriate tool to be used on agricultural land that has a typology of swamp land. The difficulty of the operation, the amount of power needed to operate and a decline in interest in the younger generation to work in agriculture demanded a call for this tool under research for improvement. By analyzing the forces acting on tajak, its operational principles will be obtained. This information is useful as a reference for the procedure of t ools utilization in swamp land preparation accordingly with the local wisdom. It may promote a correct tajak operation procedure, hence reducing the workload and the number of occupational accidents, and also important in designing an ergonomic, effective and efficient tajak. In the long run, this research is expected to be the basis for developing tajak as local knowledge -based agricultural machinery of the Banjarese society in South Kalimantan. The research was conducted following these steps:site selection, land preparation, operator selection, data recording and data processing/analysis. The result showed that the pattern of tajak operational motion is uniform, with the cutting direction to the left and the
operator’s left hand plays an important role a s the ‘rudder’. Tajak mass and the lift angle affect the magnitude of force acting on tajak with the maximum force at the minimum axial force. The maximum force experienced by tajak is at the shaft end and decreases toward the eye.