Day 13: Banedia, Barlai, Nagpur – We Went to Nagpur, In Madhya Pradesh

Welcome to Madhya Pradesh, Day 2. Today we covered Banedia, Barlai and Nagpur, covering more Soya Bean farms. We happened to be going on a day when a local festival is celebrated which made us wonder if as many farmers might attend the event. Gladly, we were wrong. The turnout was very strong as we conducted successful demonstrations at every location. Overall up to 200 farmers witnessed the demonstrations across all locations.

We reached our first location of the day, Banedia. A Soya bean farm was awaiting us with a substantial crowd of farmers. Our Yatra truck had reached the location beforehand to set up and that brought in a lot of farmers who were curious to see what it was all about. Once we reached, the demonstration began which pulled more crowds. The farmers were a lot interested to understand how the drones would help. Some farmers complained that they have electrical poles running through their fields, and in that case, if they will be able to avail the services.

Our drone pilot helped put them to ease, because drones can be manually flown near 440V main lines. The major challenge is going to be flying it near 11000KV and above transmission lines since it can cause electromagnetic interference when operating the drone. Definitely, the drone manufacturers must have thought about it, and a solution for it should be in the works.

Our next two location, Barlai and Nagpur were also pretty eventful. There were a lot of jokes about the place Nagpur because a major city with a similar name exists in Maharashtra, the state we had just come from and it felt like we are back there. Complete kudos to the local crowd to make us feel welcome with their special Madhya Pradesh hospitality. We concluded our second day here and we move ahead to our next location Semlia Nasar tomorrow. Stay tuned!