| Details of Innovation |
The farmers of the rain-fed, semi-arid areas of northern Gujarat seemed reluctant to cultivate indigenous varieties of cotton like V 797 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 of 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 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 V 797 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, farmer was concerned about this problem and thought of developing a stripper which could remove cotton from shells very efficiently and without much labor and using minimal electricity. |
Honey Bee Network Knowledge & Innovation Database (HBNKIND)