First of its kind Fly-off event to demonstrate use of UAVs/Drones for transport of Lakadong Turmeric happens in West Jaintia Hills, Meghalaya

What is the News?

In a first of its kind, drones were used for the transportation of Lakadong turmeric from Meghalaya to other parts of the country with an aim to resolve first-mile connectivity issues of farmers from the hinterland.

What is Lakadong Turmeric?

Lakadong turmeric has been identified under the One District, One Product(ODOP) Initiative of the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT).

It has been identified as a product with huge potential for growth and export from West Jaintia Hills, a district of Meghalaya.

This turmeric has the highest curcumin content of 7-9% (in comparison to 3% or less in other varieties).

Meghalaya has also applied for a Geographical Indication tag for Lakadong turmeric.

What are the issues faced by Lakadong turmeric in transportation?

Lakadong turmeric faces severe market access issues due to the remoteness of the location, topography and terrain. Due to this, buyers have to incur additional costs to transport the goods.

Hence, the ODOP has partnered with AGNIi Mission to identify Indian innovative technologies such as drones that can play a transformative role in the end-to-end processing of Lakadong Turmeric.

Note: India is the largest producer and exporter of turmeric. India produces 78% of the world’s turmeric.

Source: This post is based on the article “First of its kind Fly-off event to demonstrate use of UAVs/Drones for transport of Lakadong Turmeric happens in West Jaintia Hills, Meghalaya” published in PIB on 7th Feb 2022