To ensure clean and contamination free cotton picking, the Punjab Agriculture Department (PAD) has launched 'Contamination Free Cotton Campaign 2019-20' for training of extension officers, especially lady officers, as master trainers who will responsible for the training of women-pickers.

The department has written a letter to all the Deputy Directors (Agriculture) of cotton growing districts to request the Central Cotton Research Institute (CCRI) and PSCI to send their experts for training of the extension agents, disclosed sources here on Monday.

"Each lady officers will hold 15 trainings women-pickers during the cotton season; these women-pickers will be selected by village leaders," said Director General Agriculture (Extension) Dr. Anjum Ali Buttar in the letter.

Discussing the factors to be kept in mind for producing contamination free cotton, the letter said that picking should start at the time when cotton bolls are 50 percent matured and hence are open. The most suitable time for picking is around 10 am to avoid dew drops on cotton bolls, as problems of discoloration and ginning appear with moisture, it added.

In the letter, it was advised that lady-pickers may be asked to cover their heads to reduce the possibility of contamination of human hairs. "Always start picking from lower part of the plant and gradually move upwards so that the opened bolls of the lower part may not be contaminated by fall of dry leaves, twigs or other contamination from upper part of the plant," it said.

It also stated that farmer must supervise the picking operation and allow picking from one side of the field and follow the meteorological advisories before the harvesting and delay in case of rains. "Moreover, picked seed cotton should be collected in clean and dry cotton cloth and after picking store it in cool dry place and interval between two successive pickings should be at least 15 to 20 days. Early picking leads to the production of substandard and raw fiber and such cotton always fetches low price in the local and international market," it added.

In the letter it was advised that the interval between two successive pickings should be at least 15 to 20 days. "Early picking leads to the production of substandard and raw fiber and such cotton always fetches low price in the local and international market. Store cotton in the cotton cloth only and for sewing the bags, use cotton doori only," it added.

The letter informed the officers that use of jute bags, jute sebas and poly propylene bags is illegal and actionable under law. Before placing phutti in cotton bags, remove empty picked bolls, semi opened bolls and all other contaminants, they were advised, and added that wages should be paid on the basis of quantity bolls picked as well as cleanliness and handling.

The officers were strongly advised to ensure that humidity, immature bolls, pieces of bolls, threads and human hairs do not contaminate the cotton. If such contaminants are present, remove them before storage, it added.

The Director General Agriculture (Extension) in the letter advised the Deputy Directors (Agriculture) to store cotton in a clean, dry and raised floor after the picking. "The last pick of cotton should be stored separately, as it contains low quality cotton. If such cotton is mixed with the earlier pickings, it can result in loss of quality of the whole seed cotton lot. The storage depots should be absolutely dried, clean and airy, and store different varieties of cotton separately," he added.

Advising on best practices for cotton transportation, the letter advised that cotton should be transported only in cotton cloth bags. "For safe transport of cotton use the trolley designed by agriculture engineers. Also, avoid smoking during its storing and transportation so that chances of catching fire are eliminated and left over pieces of cigarettes may not contaminate the cotton," it added.

The letter advised the cotton traders to construct raised platforms for storage of cotton. "Protect phutti from dust and other contaminants and do not use jute bags and empty bags of fertilizer at all. Moreover, keep the platforms in the ginning factories neat and clean, and during different stages of ginning process remove contaminants by hand. Also, wrap cotton bales with cotton cloth from at least four sides," it added.