Day 17: Surat – A Long Journey to The Sweet State

Our Drone Yatra journey in Madhya Pradesh was an exciting one with a perfect end to the leg, made special by the presence of Hon. Min. Kamal Patel. Filled with excitement and energy, we made our way to the state of Gujarat. Renowned for being the birthplace of the Iron Man of India Sardar Vallabh bhai Patel and our current Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, Gujarat is a state known for its amazing food. Famous dishes such as Undiyo, Fafda, and more, as well as the famous Rann of Kutch, you can find it all here.

Gujarat also has a significant contribution to India’s agriculture. Majorly grown crops include grains such as Millet, Paddy, Bajra and Maize. Other crops include Cotton, Groundnut and Sugarcane. It is also one of the major markets for Syngenta India. This made the journey to Gujarat even more interesting because we knew a large turnout is a guarantee.

We began our first demonstration in Gujarat in a village near Surat. It was a paddy field. Almost 100 farmers were already present at the demonstration place eagerly awaiting us and the drone. Upon reaching we provided a quick brief about our journey and the drone as to how it will help make the lives of farmers easier.

We proceeded with answering the farmers’ questions and they did come up some interesting ones. A lot of farmers in the region prefer to use herbicides, and their questions revolved around its use in drones. Our DML present at the location helped answer the questions along with the help of the Territory Manager and the Business Manager who have the expert field knowledge.

Many farmers were also interested to avail the drone service from the get go, they kept enquiring about when the Drone spray service would be commercially available for them. We assured them that Syngenta is working on getting the service for them as soon as possible and we will bring them the service after getting all the requisite permissions and licenses. They might have to wait for some time but will not have to wait for long as we are working in full speed.

After a successful day in Surat, we concluded our day here and moved to the next location, Anand for our Day 2 in Gujarat. Stay tuned for all the action from Day 2.