|
Details Of Innovation
|
The farmers of the rain-fed, semi-arid areas of northern Gujarat seemed reluctant to cultivate indigenous varieties of cotton-like V797 because of the tedious and time-consuming process of plucking cotton out of its unopened or semi-opened shells. In addition to this, the manual process deteriorated the quality of cotton as it harmed the lint. These disadvantages do not exist if a farmer grows a hybrid variety. Apart from this, mainly children, women, and old people are assigned the tedious and low-paying job of picking cotton out of the shells. The plight of people served as a driving force, and the farmer came up with his innovative machine, which he entitled cotton stripper. One of the factors discouraging the cultivation of indigenous varieties of cotton, such as the V797, is its tedious post-harvesting process of removing cotton from unopened and semi-opened shells. Mechanical appliances for ginning and pressing were available, but no machine was available for stripping the cotton from the shells. The V797 variety is extensively grown in many rainfed and semi-arid areas of North Gujarat. A large number of women and children were engaged in this process. However, the farmer was concerned about this problem and thought of developing a stripper who could remove cotton from shells very efficiently and without much labor and using minimal electricity.
|
