Day 20: Pratapgarh – A Visit by the DDA and ADA of Pratapgarh

Our Syngenta Drone Yatra has finally arrived in Rajasthan. We have traversed through three states to reach here and we have made it. Welcome to Pratapgarh and Day 1 of the Drone Yatra in Rajasthan. The state of Rajasthan is home to India’s largest desert, the Thar desert. But, its main attractions are the various palaces and forts since Rajasthan used to be the place of many royalties in India’s past, from which it derives its name which translates to ‘King’s Land’. It is also home to many tigers which live in the Ranthambore National Park.

In terms of agriculture, even though the total arable land in Rajasthan is less owing to the vast desert, it is still a significant contributor to India’s agricultural GDP. Its major crops include grains such as Bajra and Jowar, Maize, pulses, and more as well as cash crops like Cotton and a little Sugarcane. It also grows a lot of vegetables too. The farms we chose for demonstrations mostly included groundnut since it is a widely grown crop in the region, as well as it is a preferred choice of many small landholding farmers which is basically our target market.

Coming to the demonstration, we had originally planned different locations for the demonstrations, but we received a last-minute request to change the demo locations since the Deputy Director of Agriculture and Assiatant Director of Agriculture of Pratapgarh region wishes to attend the demonstration. Due to this we decided to change the demo location and arrived there. While we were setting up, a large crowd had already gathered, and the government officials also reached the location.

We proceeded with the initial briefing before the demonstration and then we had a successful demonstration. An eventful Q&A session followed where the government officials were asking questions on how such small farmers can afford the drone since they are very expensive. Even thought the government is providing subsidies to farmers to procure drones, they still will need the backing of agro-science which Syngenta is a leader in, which is why Syngenta is providing drones as a service for spraying Syngenta products in the farms.

We wrapped up the demonstration and thus, reached the end of Day 1 in Rajasthan. Stay tuned as we move on to Bhilwara for Rajasthan Day 2.