MULTAN: First ever in the history of the country, the cotton was picked mechanically at Central Cotton Research Institute (CCRI) here on Tuesday.
The machine will pick cotton upto to 15 acre in a day for which dozens of labourers were engaged in the past. Briefing a group of journalists, Director CCRI Dr Zahid Mehmood said that shortage of female cotton pickers was creating difficulties for the growers adding that the latest technology will help them getting out of the problem in days to come. He said that they were experimenting on different varieties of cotton and its production technology which would be suitable for mechanical picking in future.
He informed that there would a special variety and specific method of cultivation for this purpose. Director CCRI maintained that the cotton would be picked twice mechanically and the picking charges would be lesser as compared to hand picking. On this occasion, journalists appreciated the efforts of CCRI for introducing the latest technique for picking of cotton.
