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Sesame Harvesting Machine

Sesame harvesting (til, ellu, nuvvulu) is one of the last major Indian field operations still performed almost entirely by hand. Mechanisation has lagged because the crop's natural capsule-shattering trait causes severe seed loss during machine cutting and threshing. Research and prototype work targeting non-shatter cultivars and low-impact reapers is underway.

Function

A mechanised sesame harvester aims to cut the standing crop close to the ground and bundle it for in-field drying, after which a stationary thresher recovers the seed. The reaper-binder is the most common cutting unit currently evaluated: a cutter bar severs the stalks, and a binding mechanism bundles them at intervals.

Design and specifications

ICAR-IIOR Hyderabad (the Indian Institute of Oilseeds Research, upgraded from the Directorate of Oilseeds Research in 2015) is the national institute mandated for sesame and other oilseed research. The institute's protocols emphasise three agronomic traits that enable machine harvest: non-shattering capsules, short determinate growth and uniform ripening. Cutting machinery work is being coordinated with ICAR-CIAE Bhopal on sesame-specific reapers.

Operation

The standard practice is to harvest sesame just before full maturity to limit shattering, then to bundle and stack the plants for drying, after which beating against a tarpaulin or threshing in a stationary Multi Crop Thresher recovers the seed. Mechanised reaper-binders shorten the cutting stage but do not eliminate the shatter problem.

Subsidy and adoption

Adoption of factory-made sesame harvesters in India is currently limited. Local fabricators in sesame belts (Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and West Bengal) have produced one-off reaper prototypes; commercial expansion awaits stable non-shatter cultivars released through ICAR-IIOR. Reaper-binders are on the SMAM subsidy list as a general implement category.

See also: Combine Harvester Paddy, Multi Crop Thresher, Scaleless Baler.

References

  1. Sesame Package of Practices. ICAR-IIOR.
  2. ICAR-IIOR Home Page. ICAR-Indian Institute of Oilseeds Research.