CCRI backs use of cotton picker machines in China

31 Oct '13

3 min read

The China Cotton Research Institute (CCRI) held an exhibition in Beijing recently to show cotton picker machines and new varieties of cotton. A meeting, attended by 210 representatives from 16 provinces, was also held along with the exhibition.

Delegates at the exhibition were shown the mechanical cotton harvesting process as well as latest cotton cultivation techniques. In addition, new cotton varieties, CCRI 86, CCRI 83 and 9 new varieties of cotton combination were also on display. New lines of cotton picker machines were also shown.

Experts at the meeting said cotton is one of the important cash crops, but is also labour-intensive. The current high cost of human input has become the bottleneck for the development of the Chinese cotton industry, and adopting mechanized cotton is fundamental for the progress of the cotton industry in China.

Professor Li Fu Guang from the CCRI said the balance of benefits of growing cotton have been broken due to the increase in labour costs. Only the development of cotton picker machine can significantly reduce labour inputs and enhance the competitiveness of the cotton growing industry.

According to the new requirements for the development of the cotton industry in China, the Ministry of Agriculture established test base for demonstration of mechanization of cotton harvesting. Initially, it explored the full mechanization of cotton production mode, and approved the key cultivation technical measures.

Subsequently, standard suitable for mechanized harvesting was established, and demonstrated that labour can be reduced by more than half and cotton yield can go up to 300 kg per mu ( 1 mu = 0.067 hectare).

The new domestic cotton picker machine developed by the Nanjing Agricultural Mechanization Board, under the instruction of the Ministry of Agriculture, has net picking rate of 93 percent.

In recent years, the Ministry and the Nanjing Board have worked closely together to understand the trend of mechanization of cotton harvesting. They conducted joint research and focused on the Yellow River and the Yangtze River cotton picker machine. The research successfully selected cotton varieties for mechanical harvesting, and has played a key role in the stable development of cotton production in China.

The self-propelled cotton picker machine can harvest about 10 acres of land per hour. With mass production, the price of machine would come down to about 30 million yuan, about one-tenth of the imported models. With simple structure and superior performance, the new cotton picker machine would be able to meet the majority of cotton harvest needs in Henan, Shandong, Hebei, and Xinjiang, experts said.

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