West Jaintia Hills witnessed the first-of-its-kind Fly-Off Event to demonstrate the ue of novel and innovative Drone/UAV technology for payload delivery, that could serve as a model of solving the 1st mile connectivity issues for Lakadong Turmeric farmers from the hinterland.
Lakadong Turmeric has been identified under The One District, One Product (ODOP) Initiative under the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT), Ministry of Commerce & Industry, Ministry of Commerce & Industry, as a product with excellent potential for growth and export for West Jaintia Hills.
ODOP partnered with AGNIi Mission, one of the nine technology missions under the Prime Minister’s Science, Technology and Innovation Advisory Council to identify Indian innovative technologies that can play a transformative role in the end-to-end processing of Lakadong Turmeric, starting with leveraging payload drones (UAVs) to transport the turmeric in large quantities.
Addressing the gathering at the event, Ms. Sumita Dawra, Additional Secretary, DPIIT said that this event was a first step towards showcasing the innovative solutions that can propel 1st mile connectivity while ushering in Industrial Revolution 4.0.
It may be noted that the Lakadong Turmeric from West Jaintia Hills, Meghalaya, one of the world’s finest turmeric varieties with the highest curcumin content of 7-9% (in comparison to 3% or less in other varieties), is fast becoming a game changer in the economy of the district. The State of Meghalaya has applied for a Geographical Indication tag for Lakadong turmeric.
The percentage of curcumin and oleoresin content in turmeric determines the demand by the industry along with the price. India is the largest producer and exporter of turmeric (APEDA, 2019). India exported US$ 236.5 million worth of turmeric in 2018 from US$ 182.53 million in 2017. Turmeric is a positive crop; it improves health and is not water guzzling.
Highlighting the fact that despite India being the world’s largest turmeric producer and exporter, turmeric imports had also been increasing, the Additional Secretary said that the major importers were the extraction and processing industries that require high curcumin and oleo resin.
Inspite of the highest curcumin content and excellent potential for domestic sales and export, Lakadong turmeric faces severe market access issues due to the remoteness of the location, topography and terrain.
Thus, buyers have to incur additional costs to transport the goods from the villages via local pick-up trucks till the major transporters’ loading point. Additional costs of transportation and delays in the same act as barriers / disincentives for the buyer in the process of procurement.
The flyoff event would not only to give a fillip to the mandate of the ODOP initiative but also leverage modern technology as a fundamental solution to overcome the bottleneck of transportation that acts as a barrier in realizing the optimal potential of this exceptional spice from Meghalaya, Ms. Dawra said.
In consonance with its mandate in April last year, the ODOP Team successfully facilitated the trade of 13,136 kgs of sliced and dried Lakadong Turmeric to a large food processing industry in Ernakulam, Kerala in 2021. It may also be noted that under ODOP initiative, the price of Lakadong Turmeric has increased by Rs. 20, from Rs. 150 per Kg in the Year 2021 to Rs. 170 per Kg in 2022.
