India faces uphill task in mechanising cotton farming

India may be the second largest cotton grower but it still lags behind in mechanisation of farm operations of the fibre crop.

With the country facing labour shortage and farm wages rising, cotton growers are looking at various ways to cut costs. For example, the cost of picking cotton from the farm has increased to Rs 10-12 a kg now from Rs 4 in 2007. Labour availability, too, dropped from 70.3 per cent of the population in 1961 to 48.9 per cent in 2010.

Among nations growing cotton, cotton picking is completely manual in India.

In contrast, a country such as Turkey has mechanised cotton farming within a short span of time. “Almost 60 per cent of its cotton operations was mechanised within a decade,” says Mr Ganesh Jayaraman, Global Director, Cotton Product Line, Agriculture and Turf Division of John Deere.

In China's Xinjiang province, 40 per cent of cotton operations has been mechanised, while in the US, mechanisation helps in baling cotton on the farm itself. “The Chinese Government is supporting mechanisation, and by 2020, 60 per cent of cotton-farm operations will be mechanised in Xinjiang,” says Mr Jayaraman.

Problems

So, what are the problems confronting Indian growers in mechanising cotton operations? The issue was discussed in detail at the World Cotton Research Conference in Mumbai last month.

“Cotton picking is one of the critical operations of cultivating the fibre,” says Dr V.M. Mayande, Vice-Chancellor of Dr Panjabrao Deshmukh Agricultural University in Akola. “Small-sized farms in India is another issue and, therefore, small machines are required. Also, the opening of the cotton boll has to be synchronised,” he says.

However, the most important thing to be done before mechanised picking is to defoliate the plant. “No appropriate defoliant is available in the country,” says the farm varsity vice-chancellor.

“The appropriate defoliator can be found,” says Mr Jayaraman, adding that controlling the cotton plant's height is one of the major issues in India.

“The problem in India and Pakistan is that not many varieties are available for mechanised picking,” says Dr Mayande. “The height of the plant that grows up to six feet is another major constraint,” he says.

“Maybe, India can restrict the number of hybrids grown. It can help. The height of the plant can be brought down to about 4 feet,” says Mr Jayaraman. Currently, hybrids account for nearly 95 per cent of the total 120 lakh hectares under cotton in the country.

Only one picking

In India, farmers pick cotton twice or thrice from the plant in a season. “Mechanisation means the picking can be done only once. Can our farmers afford to lose the extra pickings?,” wonders Dr Mayande.

But Mr Jayaraman points to the US as an example. In 1926, US harvested 18.5 million bales on 47 million hectares of land. Now, it harvests 18.1 million bales on 10.7 million hectares. “A similar solution can be found here by increasing the yield,” he says.

While hand-picking of cotton results in 2-2.5 per cent trash content, it could be higher in mechanisation. “For ginning mills, pre-cleaning will become a big operation,” says Dr Mayande.

“Even otherwise, pre-cleaning at gins is required. In fact, mechanised picking is better than hand-picking since the latter can lead to contamination,” says Mr Jayaraman.

Some of the options under consideration are power tiller type of pickers with sensors to zero in on cotton's white colour.

John Deere has come up with two-row pickers in Turkey and Uzbekistan but the company is yet to figure out what type of mechanical picker will suit India.

“We don't believe all farms can be mechanised in India. However, mechanisation will depend upon the Government's will and right agronomic practices that have helped countries such as the US, Turkey and China,” says Mr Jayaraman.

As of now, cotton scientists, traders, exporters and industry are of the view that mechanisation is a far cry. “I don't see mechanisation happening in the immediate future. It could be at least 10 years away,” says Dr M. Ramasami, Managing Director of Rasi Seeds.

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