I. At farms
II. During transportation to home
III. During storage
IV. During transportation to market yards
V. At market yards
VI. At ginning & pressing factories

The contamination can be minimised considerably by adopting the following do’s and don’ts at the above sources

I. At farms :

a) Do's

1. Only after morning dew drops have evaporated picking should be started.
2. Pick kapas only from well-opened bolls.
3. Picking should be done only after at least 50% of the bolls in the field have opened.
4. While picking cotton, labourers should form a line and advance forward together so that they will remain alert and could be well supervised.
5. Start picking from the bottom of the cotton plant to avoid deposition of dry leaf bits on the bolls when the plant shakes.
6. Cotton should be picked from open bolls only.
7. Gather the insect-infested, stained and hard locks as well as locks picked up from the ground in a separate bag, for maintaining purity.
8. Cotton pickers should cover their heads with cloth to prevent cotton being contaminated  with  hair.
9. Cotton should be covered with cotton cloth or tarpaulin to avoid soiling of cotton.
10. Tractor trolleys / bullock carts should be cleaned properly before loading of cotton.
11. Trolleys/ bullock carts should be covered from all four sides with cotton cloth or tarpaulin.
12. Labour charges should be paid to labourers based on cleanliness of cotton by them instead of only based on weight of cotton picked.

b) Dont's

1. Do not succumb to the temptation to sow more than one variety of cotton as mixing will decimate cotton quality.
2. While harvesting cotton, do not pick up leaves, stem bits, twigs, bracts, etc.
3. Avoid mixing of kapas from different varieties or from different pickings of the same variety to maintain the grade of cotton.
4. Do not add water to kapas.
5. Do not allow extraneous matter like fodder to get mixed with kapas.
6. Don’t store fire-crackers near kapas stock to prevent fire.
7. Untrained and under age labour should not be engaged.

II. During Transportation to Home :

a) Do's

1. Clean the hand cart/bullock cart/ tractor trolley before loading kapas.
2. Cover the cotton loaded in hand cart/tractor from all sides with cotton cloth or canvas while transporting cotton to the farm house/ to the market mandi.
3. Different varieties must be segregated while transporting cotton from the field to the farmer’s house for storage.

b) Dont's

1. Do not sit or lie down on kapas heaps during transport.
2. Do not carry any other material in the cart/ trolley that can contaminate cotton.

III. During Storage :

a) Do's

1. Storage space for kapas should be clean and dry.  If cemented floor is not available, cover the surface with cotton cloth.
2. Kapas heaped in the farm house should be covered with cotton cloth.
3. Cotton pickers should be paid wages on a “per-shift basis” and not on the basis of the weight of material collected.lean

b) Dont's

1. Do not store wet kapas in a closed room/ godown as microbes might develop leading to fibre damage and discolouration.
2. Do not permit combing of hair particularly by women as falling hair will contaminate cotton.
3. Do not allow workers to lie down on heaps of kapas as hair dropping from their heads will cause contamination of cotton.
4. Different varieties/ grades of cotton should not be mixed.  Mixing them together will reduce quality and bring down price realisation.

IV. During Transportation to Market Yards

a) Do’s

1. Cotton should be placed in clean trolleys/ bullock carts only.
2. While loading cotton in the trolleys/ bullock carts, immature, rotten and damaged bolls should be picked out.
3. Only one variety should be loaded in trolleys to get proper price.
4. Load cotton of single picking in the trolley at one time.  Cotton of last picking should be kept separately.
5. Cotton should be covered with cotton cloth.
6. Cotton should be kept protected from cotton pieces, hair, rope, toffee wrappers, plastic, feather, coloured threads, etc.

V. At Market Yards :

a) Do’s

1. Keep market yards clean.
2. Cotton should be placed on cotton cloth or tarpaulin in the market yard for proper evaluation.
3. Cotton arriving at the market should be unloaded only on cemented surface or on cotton cloth/tarpaulins.
4. Cover kapas heaps with tarpaulins so that rain water does not seep    in and airborne impurities do not enter cotton.
5. Ensure that paved platforms are away from trees to avoid contamination with  leaves and bird nuisance.

b) Dont's

1. Never unload cotton on bare ground, as otherwise cotton will get contaminated with soil.
2. Do not mix seed cotton lots of different varieties as such mixing will reduce cotton quality and price realization by farmers.
3. Do not expose kapas to elements of nature like the sun, wind and rain.
4. Do not allow cattle and other animals to move around kapas heaps.
5. Do not allow people to sit and relax on kapas heaps.
6. Do not throw empty packets of tobacco, betel nuts, etc. on kapas heaps.

VI. At Ginning & Pressing Factories :

a) Do’s

1. Ginneries should insist that cotton arriving at their premises in carts, tractors and lorries is fully covered with cloth to protect the cotton from rain, sun and airborne impurities.
2. Keep factory premises clean – provide rubbish bins and spittoons at different locations.
3. Stack kapas on clean, paved and preferably roofed platforms or in well-ventilated, covered godowns.
4. Engage extra labour to remove contaminants while forming kapas heaps.
5. Dry kapas in the sun to limit moisture content  to within 7-9 per cent.
6. Provide all workers with white cotton clothings to wear and caps to cover their heads so that hair does not contaminate the cotton.
7. Handle  all materials such as kapas, seed and lint with care to avoid mixing with foreign matter.
8. Install kapas pre-cleaner or use jalicots or chalnis to remove   immature bolls and foreign matter.
9. Install pneumatic kapas conveyor with stone catcher to transfer    kapas to gins.
10. Instruct labourers to remove all foreign matter during feeding, if kapas is fed to gins manually.
11. Use grease instead of oil in gear boxes to prevent contamination with oil.
12. Maintain proper overlap settings and ensure periodics grooving of leather roller to avoid seed cut and to get good quality lint.
13. Use proper seed grids for processing seeds of different varieties.
14. Ensure good house-keeping in ginneries to avert contamination.
15. Remove metal wires, bolts, machine parts, leather pieces, spilt oils, cleaning cloth etc. to prevent their entry into kapas/lint.
16. If baling press is located far away from the gin house, use cotton bags for packing and transporting the lint.
17. Adopt pneumatic conveyor system to transport lint from gin     house to baling press, to reduce manual handling to the minimum.
18. Before feeding to baling press, once again ensure that no extraneous matter gets into the lint.
19. If possible, manual tramping with legs may be replaced with some mechanical device (auto tramping).
20. If manual tramping is unavoidable, provide cotton stockings to    trampers to avoid skin lesions due to abrasion.
21. Use cotton cloth for wrapping pressed bales and ensure that all six sides are fully covered.
22. Stitch bale over with white cotton thread instead of with jute twine.
23. Use new iron straps of 18-19 gauge and 12.5 mm width for fastening cotton bales.
24. Bale specifications should preferably be written/ printed on a cloth label to be attached to the bale cover.
25. Use quick - drying good quality ink if specifications are to be written on the bale cloth itself.
26. Store cotton bales in a covered godown to prevent it from exposure to rain, dust, etc.

b) Dont's

1. Never stack cotton on bare ground to prevent it from getting   contaminated by soil and other impurities.

2. Do not allow children to play on or near kapas heaps.

3. Do not roll boras on the ground while transporting them to the   press house; use trolleys instead.

4. Do not spray water directly on lint.  Intead raise the pressing room humidity with Benson farns or nozzle spray systems.

5. Do not allow wearing of shoes or chappals during tramping, if it is done manually.  

6. Do not permit wearing of synthetic saris by workers to prevent    contamination by synthetic fibres/yarns separating from torn or frayed edges.  Do provide cotton saris instead.

7. Do not use jute bags and jute twines for bale packaging.

8. Do not keep inflammable material inside the factory premises.

9. Do not permit smoking inside the factory.

10. Do not allow vehicles (tractors and lorries) to come near  kapas heaps to minimize fire hazard.

11. Do not allow eating of food near kapas heaps.

12. Do not allow stray cattle and other animals inside the factory    premises.