Tea leaves are no longer carried only by baskets, ropeways or rail in Kerala's Munnar, as the region's iconic tea plantations begin testing drone technology for transporting freshly plucked leaves. A pilot project at the Lockhart Estate is introducing drones to improve tea harvesting efficiency while reducing the physical burden on plantation workers.

A quadcopter drone developed by a Bengaluru-based company has been deployed to carry between 10 and 15 kilograms of freshly harvested tea leaves per trip from plantation fields to designated collection points.

The initiative is aimed at addressing the challenges posed by Munnar's rugged terrain and plantations with limited road connectivity. By transporting harvested leaves directly to weighing points, the project is expected to reduce manual labour while speeding up the collection process.

According to Assistant Manager Ayyappa, the estate began moving towards 100 per cent mechanisation two years ago by introducing shear harvesting and battery-operated harvesting equipment. However, workers continued to face difficulties carrying heavy loads, particularly in plantations without road access. The introduction of drones is expected to solve this problem by transporting the harvested load directly to collection centres.

The initiative has been well received by plantation workers, who claim that the technology makes it possible for them to harvest more tea without having to carry heavy loads over steep slopes. They described the new system as a major relief and expressed satisfaction with the change.

If the pilot project proves successful, the estate plans to introduce higher-capacity drones capable of transporting up to 100 kilograms of tea leaves, marking another step towards modernising tea harvesting and plantation logistics in Munnar.