Apple transportation by means of drones to develop into actuality in Himachal’s tribal Kinnaur district

By PTI

SHIMLA: Apple growers in distant and inaccessible areas of the tribal Kinnaur district are in for a brand new revolution as transportation of apples by means of drone know-how would quickly develop into a actuality.

Successful trials of transportation of 20 kg apple packing containers have been carried out in Rohan Kanda village in Nichar block of Kinnaur district and the packing containers have been transported for a distance of 12 km from an orchard to the principle street in six minutes by the Vegrow apple procurement company in collaboration with Skyeair.

The trial for lifting apple packing containers was carried out to examine the feasibility, battery and rotation time and assess the load lifted in a single rotation in November and the fee side is being labored on now.

“Our target is to lift about 200 kg in one go to make the transportation economical for the apple growers and we are hopeful that the fruitful model would be implemented by the next season,” stated incharge of Vegrow, Dinesh Negi.

“Financial feasibility is being chalked out and the administration would facilitate the company for getting the licence and other requirements but the deal is between the private company and the orchardists,” stated Deputy Commissioner Kinnaur, Abid Hussain Sadiq.

“There is no road connectivity to the twin villages of Rohan Kanda and Chota Kanda in Nichar block of Kinnaur and the apple boxes are carried on foot and a maximum of three boxes (90kg) are brought to the road in one trip. It takes over four hours for one round due to hilly terrain and a coolie (labourer) can take maximum of three rounds in a day,” stated an apple grower from Nichar Manoj Mehta, including as the method is time consuming the freshness of the fruit is compromised and labour scarcity is one other drawback.

Successful trial has rekindled hope of well timed and secure transportation particularly at time of early snow and talks are occurring with the non-public firm to repair the costs and efforts are afoot to made transportation of 200 kg of apple packing containers at one time to cut back the fee, stated Vice-Pradhan of Gram Panchayat Nichar, Jagdev.

The transfer would assist in lowering the price of transportation apart from saving time as bringing apples from hilly terrain to the principle street for loading in vehicles is an costly, time-consuming and hard job as these orchards should not linked by roads, he instructed PTI.

Apple is grown on 10,924 hectares within the district.

The apple transportation from the decrease areas of Kinnaur begins in August-end however the bulk of transportation takes place from October 15 to November 15.

This yr, 40.83 lakh packing containers have been produced as in comparison with 24.33 lakh packing containers in 2021 whereas the variety of packing containers was 36.64 lakh in 2020, 28.43 lakh in 2019 and 30.83 lakh in 2018.

One field incorporates 20 kg of apple, officers within the Kinnaur horticulture division stated.

The value for transporting 5 kg weight for one kilometre has been fastened at Rs 45 and for 10 Kg at Rs 55 by the Himachal Pradesh State Electronics Development Corporation Ltd (HPSEDC) for presidency departments, stated Managing Director of the company Mukesh Repaswal.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has additionally just lately talked concerning the profitable path of apple transportation by means of drones through the “Mann Ki Baat” programme and stated that scrumptious apples of Kinnaur would attain the market quickly as they might be lifted by means of drones.

The Himachal Pradesh authorities had given consent to Drone Policy 2022 with the target of propagating Drone-enabled know-how for heralding financial prosperity and creating employment avenues in June this yr.

In the agriculture and horticulture sector, drones can be used to assemble farm and crop-specific knowledge to evaluate farm productiveness, assess crop injury, spray of fertilizers on crops and cut back misapplication of sources, officers maintained.

SHIMLA: Apple growers in distant and inaccessible areas of the tribal Kinnaur district are in for a brand new revolution as transportation of apples by means of drone know-how would quickly develop into a actuality.

Successful trials of transportation of 20 kg apple packing containers have been carried out in Rohan Kanda village in Nichar block of Kinnaur district and the packing containers have been transported for a distance of 12 km from an orchard to the principle street in six minutes by the Vegrow apple procurement company in collaboration with Skyeair.

The trial for lifting apple packing containers was carried out to examine the feasibility, battery and rotation time and assess the load lifted in a single rotation in November and the fee side is being labored on now.

“Our target is to lift about 200 kg in one go to make the transportation economical for the apple growers and we are hopeful that the fruitful model would be implemented by the next season,” stated incharge of Vegrow, Dinesh Negi.

“Financial feasibility is being chalked out and the administration would facilitate the company for getting the licence and other requirements but the deal is between the private company and the orchardists,” stated Deputy Commissioner Kinnaur, Abid Hussain Sadiq.

“There is no road connectivity to the twin villages of Rohan Kanda and Chota Kanda in Nichar block of Kinnaur and the apple boxes are carried on foot and a maximum of three boxes (90kg) are brought to the road in one trip. It takes over four hours for one round due to hilly terrain and a coolie (labourer) can take maximum of three rounds in a day,” stated an apple grower from Nichar Manoj Mehta, including as the method is time consuming the freshness of the fruit is compromised and labour scarcity is one other drawback.

Successful trial has rekindled hope of well timed and secure transportation particularly at time of early snow and talks are occurring with the non-public firm to repair the costs and efforts are afoot to made transportation of 200 kg of apple packing containers at one time to cut back the fee, stated Vice-Pradhan of Gram Panchayat Nichar, Jagdev.

The transfer would assist in lowering the price of transportation apart from saving time as bringing apples from hilly terrain to the principle street for loading in vehicles is an costly, time-consuming and hard job as these orchards should not linked by roads, he instructed PTI.

Apple is grown on 10,924 hectares within the district.

The apple transportation from the decrease areas of Kinnaur begins in August-end however the bulk of transportation takes place from October 15 to November 15.

This yr, 40.83 lakh packing containers have been produced as in comparison with 24.33 lakh packing containers in 2021 whereas the variety of packing containers was 36.64 lakh in 2020, 28.43 lakh in 2019 and 30.83 lakh in 2018.

One field incorporates 20 kg of apple, officers within the Kinnaur horticulture division stated.

The value for transporting 5 kg weight for one kilometre has been fastened at Rs 45 and for 10 Kg at Rs 55 by the Himachal Pradesh State Electronics Development Corporation Ltd (HPSEDC) for presidency departments, stated Managing Director of the company Mukesh Repaswal.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has additionally just lately talked concerning the profitable path of apple transportation by means of drones through the “Mann Ki Baat” programme and stated that scrumptious apples of Kinnaur would attain the market quickly as they might be lifted by means of drones.

The Himachal Pradesh authorities had given consent to Drone Policy 2022 with the target of propagating Drone-enabled know-how for heralding financial prosperity and creating employment avenues in June this yr.

In the agriculture and horticulture sector, drones can be used to assemble farm and crop-specific knowledge to evaluate farm productiveness, assess crop injury, spray of fertilizers on crops and cut back misapplication of sources, officers maintained.