Day 41: Tenali, Cherukapalli – Our South Yatra Begins

Can’t believe the journey has been long, we have travelled a vast region of India west, India North and India East. Our journey of the south begins now. Welcome to Syngenta Drone Yatra. We are in Telangana beginning our demonstration in the south. We have completed over 75% of the Drone Yatra and we are nearing the end, but it is not over yet.

Today we are visiting Tenali and Cherukapalli. These regions lie in the major paddy and cotton belt of Andhra Pradesh, which are two major crops grown in the state. We first reached Tenali where the Agriculture Department officials of the region were present. They were very interested to see how the drone works and how it can impart value to the many farmers of the region. Along with them, our distributor network was also present, seeking opportunities to expand their portfolio with Syngenta, possibly with drones as well as how the drones would help them sell more products.

There were also media persons who attended the event and over 50 farmers of the region. We set up our drone for a briefing, post which we proceeded for the demonstration at a paddy field. After the demonstration we had a Q&A where the farmers wanted to know how is it that currently they need over 200 liters of water to serve an acre of land, but the drone is able to do it in 8 liters only. They had to be explained the technology. After this we moved to the next location, Cherukapalli.

Cherukapalli was a mega event waiting for us. The region’s agriculture department’s team, our distributor network as well as almost 200 farmers were waiting at the location for us. We quickly set up and proceeded with the demonstration. In the Q&A, the farmers had questions in terms of how drones will be cost effective to them. We did a quick calculation for them based on their data as to how much they are spending now in terms of time and on labor. In comparison, drones can get the job done in a jiffy.

They also had questions about the availability of drones. We explained to them how once the service is available in their region, then they can simply use Syngenta’s Cropwise Grower application to book the spray service. After a successful event we closed for the day.

We now move to our next location, Modukuru for our Day 2 in Andhra Pradesh, stay tuned!