Studies were undertaken to determine the status of mechanization and its scope in lac production operations. In order to collect the information, scientists working in the field of lac production and lac growing farmers were contacted. Relevant literatures were reviewed. It was found that locally manufactured hand tools are mostly used in different lac cultivation operations, viz. Pruning, inoculation, "phunki" removal, harvesting and lac scraping. However, some research works have been carried out at the Birsa Agricultural University (B.A.U.), Ranchi and Central Institute of Postharvest Engineering and Technology (CIPHET), Ludhiana to mechanize lac scraping. The B.A.U., Ranchi has developed a manual lac scraping machine of 5 kg/hr lac stick scraping capacity. CIPHET, Ludhiana has developed a power operated lac scraping -cum-grading machine of 20 kg/hr capacity. There is ample scope for mechanization in other lac production operations apart from scraping either by improving the design of existing hand tools to improve their capacity and efficiency or by designing new low-cost equipment.
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