Trinity Saioo Receives Padma Shri For Leading Turmeric Farming

Trinity Saioo hails from Mulieh village in West Jaintia Hills district of Meghalaya. She is a tribal farmer who never received the spotlight until she was conferred with the distinguished Padma Shri on the 71st Republic Day. She is among the 141 prominent personalities across India to have been named for the prestigious Padma Awards 2020. She "spearheaded the women-led turmeric farming movement in Meghalaya, enabling the women farmers to triple their incomes".

Saioo, a mother to six children and a school teacher, is known as 'Turmeric Trinity' for her invaluable contribution. She worked with the Lakadong variety of turmeric and assisted illiterate women in learning the methods of organic farming to boost their earnings, for which she was presented with the fourth highest civilian award.

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Among the congratulatory messages that were pouring in, Chief Minister Conrad Sangma took to the microblogging site Twitter to congratulate her and tweeted, "Kong Trinity Saioo is a teacher and an enterprising farmer leading a workforce of 800 women who cultivate and export the world-famous Lakadong Turmeric from #Meghalaya. She is now a proud recipient of the #Padmashree award. I congratulate and commend her efforts for our farmers. "

Her Story

She started her journey with 25 farmers from Mulieh and received support from the Spices Board. Her exemplary leadership skills were enough to encourage other farmers from the adjoining villages to be a part of the movement. Within four years, 800 farmers came together and cultivated this variety of the turmeric crop in their respective villages. As of now, Trinity has over 100 self-help groups working in her federation. Not only this, the federation exports the Lakadong variety to North-eastern states and in the south to Kerala and Karnataka.

What is Lakadong turmeric

Lakadong is a variety indigenous to the Jaintia hills and is rich in curcumin content of about 7%. As compared to usual varieties of turmeric that contain only 1-3% of the ingredient, Lakadong is far superior. This makes it a variety of particular interest in medicine. Scientific research has shown that curcumin possesses natural anti-inflammatory and anti-cancerous properties.  It has a high market demand owing to its unique taste, flavour, aroma and vibrant  colour.

As of now, Trinity has over 100 self-help groups working in her federation. Not only this, the federation exports the Lakadong variety to North-eastern states and in the south to Kerala and Karnataka.

Saioo realized the value of this distinctive variety and commercialized it with the help of the other uneducated villagers. This proved to be extremely helpful as they could now make ends meet by farming. She has helped the state further Mission Lakadong by mobilizing growers and expanding the area of Lakadong turmeric cultivation in the country. She assisted the illiterate women with organic certification, marketing, and documentation to avail subsidies. Trinity Saioo is an unsung hero of the agriculture industry who provided an opportunity for many other women like her to work and support their families.

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Saavriti is an intern with ShethePeople.TV