(FREE) UPSC Current Affairs 2024 PDF

(THE GIST OF PIB) Kapas plucker machines

[October-2021]

The Cotton Corporation of India (CCI) has so far distributed 5543 kapas plucker machines valuing around Rs. 4 crores to 5543 marginal and small farmers in all the cotton-growing states (including aspirational districts) under Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR).

About:

Most of the cotton in India is manually picked which is a labor-intensive operation.
Unlike other major cotton producing Countries like USA, Australia etc, fully mechanized harvesting by big machines are not successful in India due to small land holdings of cotton farmers in India, sowing/picking pattern (3-4 picking) and different climatic condition in different States.
Therefore, hand held kapas plucker machine is one of the option to bring down the cost for the farmers and a remedy for contamination at farm level due to manual picking.
Hand held kapasplucker machine is a light weight (about 600 gram) machine which has a pair of rollers inside having small edged teeth on their outer periphery and is operated by a light weight 12 volt. Cotton gets entangled with the rollers and is collected directly into collection bag attached to it. Design of machine makes it easy to operate at field and affordable i.e. at nominal cost of Rs. 8000 per machine (approx.).
Advantage of kapas plucker machines is that it reduces the risks of health hazards to cotton farmers in manual picking (i.e. risk of insect bite, back pains due to standing posture for long hours, bruises/cutting on legs and hands etc).