Mechanized harvesting in cotton in India – an overview

‘Cotton’ the white gold is one of the most important commercial crops playing a key role in the economical, political and social affairs of the country. India, is the third largest producer of cotton in the world. Recent technological advances and trade liberalization have made India a major player in international cotton markets. Demand for cotton is expected to remain robust in India and in future there is a clear need to improve the productivity to meet this increasing demand. In recent years labour shortages during peak periods of cotton production, have been quite frequent and widespread. The delay in completion of operations leads to loss of yield and increase the cost of cultivation. This problem is more severe during harvesting. Because of the staggered blooming characterizes of cotton varieties in India, mechanical pickers were not considered suitable for our conditions. But currently the biological scientists are gearing up to develop plant types/ varieties amenable to mechanical picking. Also hand picked cotton contains 7% trash, mainly due to deficiencies in labour practice compared internationally, where trash content is less than 2.5 % harvested mechanically. In this line research has been conducted all over India on two important aspects for mechanical cotton production. The foremost is to develop compact cotton varieties with no monopodial, more sympodial and synchronized maturing cotton varieties. Second one is the change in the agronomic practices, for high density cotton planting with geometry to suit mechanization and for enhanced productivity.