1. Historique, problématique et panorama de la mécanisation de la culture
du coton dans le monde
16èmes Journées annuelles de l’A.C.A.
14 mars 2018, Abuja, Nigeria
Gérald Estur, consultant

2. Outlines of the presentation
Introduction History of mechanization of cotton production in the USA Overview of mechanization of cotton production in the world Constraints and challenges Conclusion

3. Cotton is a very demanding and labor-intensive crop.
INTRODUCTION
Cotton is a very demanding and labor-intensive crop.
The production of cotton involved three distinct “labor peaks”:
land preparation, planting, and cultivating;
thinning and weeding;
harvesting.
Labor costs are rising as farm labor availability is decreasing due to urbanization,.
Mechanization increases the output per worker rather than the output per unit of land, in order to produce more efficiently and reduce the cost of production.
Cotton production is labor-intensive in developing countries and capital-intensive in developed countries. .

4. HISTORY OF THE MECHANIZATION OF COTTON PRODUCTION IN THE USA

5. mechanization of agriculture in the usa
1797 – First patented cast-iron plow 1837 – First steel plows – First agricultural revolution: change from hand power to horses 1868 – First steam tractors 1902 – First gasoline tractors 1926 – Light tractors developed 1930s – All-purpose rubber-tired tractor – Second agricultural revolution: change from horses to tractors 1954 – Number of tractors on farms exceeds number of horses and mules
Sources:: USDA

6. Farm mechanization in the usa
(million)
1910
1930
1945
1960
Number of horses and mules
24.0
18.7
11.6
3.0
Number of tractors -
0.9
2.4
4.7
Source: USDA

7. Cotton before the civil war
Cotton planters projected the amount of cotton they could harvest based on the number of slaves under their control. Planters expected a good “hand,” or slave, to work 4 ha of land and pick up to 90 kg of cotton a day. The cotton gin allowed a slave to remove the seeds from pounds of cotton a day, compared to one pound if done by hand. By 1850, of the 3.2 million slaves in the country’s fifteen slave states, 1.8 million were producing cotton.

8. mechanization of cotton PRODUCTION
1793 – Invention of the cotton gin 1850 – First patented cotton harvested 1871 – First patented cotton stripper 1926 – Cotton stripper experienced in Texas First patented one-row mechanical cotton picker 1942 – Spindle cotton-picker produced commercially 1944 – First cotton crop produced totally without hand labor 1980 – 4-row cotton picker introduced 2008 – First 6-row baler cotton picker
Sources:: USDA

9. Cotton stripper in the 1950S

10. COTTON ROUND BALE HARVESTER
Source: John Deere

11. ECONOMIES OF SCALE 1949 1992 2002 2007 2012 Number of cotton farms
1.1 million
34,800
24,805
18,605
18,115
Average cotton area cropped
10 ha
130 ha
200 ha
230 ha
210 ha
Source: USDA

12. Labor-hours needed to produce 100 lbs lint
PRODUCTIVITY GAINS
Year
Labor-hours needed to produce 100 lbs lint
Equipement
1945 42
2 mules; 1 row-plow; 1 row-cultivator,
hand hoe; hand pick
1965 5
Tractor; 2-row stalk cutter;14-foot disk;
4-row bedder; planter; cultivator
2-row harvester
1975
2-3
Tractor; 2-row stalk cutter; 20-foot disk
4-row bedder; planter; 4-row cultivator;
1987
1.5-2
Tractor; 4-row stalk cutter; 20-foot disk;
6-row bedder; planter; 6-row cultivator;
4-row harvester
Source::

13. OVERVIEW OF THE MECHANIZATION OF COTTON PRODUCTION IN THE WORLD

14. Picking cotton in the USA in the early 1900s
Picking cotton in tAfrica nowadays
Harvesting cotton in the USA nowadays

15. Top Cotton Producers
Source: ICAC

16. Average Yield by Country
Source: ICAC

17. production costs
According to ICAC, the world average cost of production of lint in 2015/16 was 1.16 $/kg (about 53 US cents/kg ex-gin, after deducting value of seeds):
Production costs highly variable among countries:
Fertilizers
Harvesting
Weeding
Ginning
Insecticides
Seeds
Irrigation
22 %
21 %
18 %
15 %
10 %
8 %
6 %
USA
China
Pakistan
Brazil
Turkey
Australia
India
1.88 $/kg
1.70 $/kg
1.18 $/kg
1.15 $/kg
1.08 $/kg
0.97 $/kg
0.71 $/kg
Source: ICAC

18. harvesting methods Country Average farm size (ha) % machine % hand
India
1.5
100%
China
< 1
25% est.
USA
250
Pakistan 3
Brazil
150
Australia
400
Turkey 10
75%
Uzbekistan ?
10% est.

19. Harvesting methods
Cotton is also machine-picked in the following countries (source: ICAC):
Argentina (75%)
Colombia (65%)
Greece (90%)
Israel (100%)
Mexico (?)
South Africa (100%)
Spain (95%)

20. Constraints and challenges

21. Constraints to mechanization
Higher costs (investment, operation, maintenance)
Farm size (economies of scale)
Skills (operation, maintenance)
Availability of ancillary services (fuel, spare parts, maintenance)

22. Mechanical cotton harvesting
Manual harvesting of seed cotton is labor intensive: a worker can typically hand pick between 15 and 50 kg of seed cotton depending on variety, yield and plant density.
As a result, manual harvesting becomes a bottleneck for larger fields and higher yields.
Adoption of mechanical harvest is not an overnight process: it took 30 years in the USA and 45 years in Brazil to achieve 100%-machine harvesting. Turkey reached 75%-machine harvesting in 15 years, and China reached 15%-share in 20 years.
Premium market for machine-picked cottons.

23. Mechanical cotton harvesting
The transition from hand picking to mechanical harvesting means huge changes in the farming system and in the ginning process: Mechanical harvest requires suitable varieties (compact type, variety with uniform plant height and shorter varieties) and higher plant density. The use of growth regulator, defoliants and boll openers is needed to enable the harvesting process and minimize harvest losses. High impact pre-cleaner is required at the gin. Cotton pickers are only suitable for harvesting relatively large fields with high yield (above 3 t/ha). Mechanical harvest requires heavy investment: a state-of-the art 6-row cotton picker, with a field capacity of 3 hectares per hour, costs more than USD 600,000.

24. Conclusions
The benefits of mechanization are greatest where labor is scarce, and therefore expensive, or land is plentiful. Small farm sizes inhibit mechanization. As timing of cultural operations is crucial, mechanization of cotton production is a way to increase productivity, which stands out as the top priority for improving the competitiveness and profitability of cotton production in Africa. Cotton mechanization is more than just putting machines into the fields. It is closely interlinked with the other intensive production practices. .

25. THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION