Low-cost cotton plucking machine ready for commercialisation

COIMBATORE: A low-cost cotton plucking machine has been developed by the SIMA Cotton Development and Research Association for the benefit of farmers.

The machine, costing Rs 20,000, can be operated through solar panel and battery and pluck 10 kg of cotton in one hour, as against eight hours required by manual plucking, T Rajkumar, Chairman, Southern India Mills' Association (SIMA), told reporters last night here.

The machine was under trial for the last two years in various fields owned by SIMA across Tamil Nadu, he said adding, the machine was ready for commercialisation and a Bengaluru-based company would produce it for which an MoU would be signed soon, he said.

There would be only one per cent thrash content, as only cotton was plucked by the machine and straight away goes to a non-woven material bag, almost nil contamination, he claimed.

The association was ready to supply any number of machines in the cotton-growing regions of the country, Rajkumr said.