NEW DELHI, Nov 8: Trinity Saioo, popularly known as ‘Turmeric Trinity’ for popularising the Lakadong variety of turmeric especially among women, and 14 other prominent persons from the Northeast received the coveted Padma Awards 2020 presented by President Ram Nath Kovind in presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other top dignitaries at a glittering function held at Rashtrapati Bhavan on Monday.
Speaking to The Shillong Times from Delhi after being conferred the award, Trinity said she is overjoyed and everything felt surreal. “I never imagined that I would be so honoured by the country. However, I feel that the farmers and all who have worked closely with me, including the government officials also deserve this honour,” Trinity said adding that she hopes for this continued cooperation from the government to take the farmers’ cooperatives to a different level.
“The award ceremony was very solemn and I was overwhelmed by the whole ambience,” she added.
52-year-old Trinity, a mother of six children, received the appreciation not just because she is a woman but also a farmer and teacher from the remote Mulieh village in West Jaintia Hills District.
She is working to popularise the Lakadong variety of turmeric and assists the illiterate women of the village in learning the methods of organic farming to boost their earnings and increase production through organic farming.
Today she is working with more than 900 farmers and her work has been influencing thousands of lives.
Farming came naturally to Trinity as she initially started it to support her family. In addition to being a part-time farmer, she teaches at St. Margaret’s RCLP School, Mulieh.
However, with time, her interest in the farming sector encouraged her to share her knowledge with the farmers in her district about the importance of organic farming of Lakadong turmeric and thereby enabling the farmers to triple their income.
Recipient of many other awards for her unique farming efforts, the Spices Board of India made some major contributions in helping her to educate, preserve and promote the growth and cultivation of turmeric in the region through the provision of training programs, seminars, study tours, etc. She has been a member of the Spices Board since 2013.
To attain a profitable income from turmeric, Trinity engaged the women of the village in the grading, processing of turmeric and this ultimately led to better marketing of turmeric and its value-added products. She received a boost when ‘Mission Lakadong’ was launched by the Government of Meghalaya in 2018.
Trinity seeks to multiply the production of Lakadong turmeric by leaps and bounds to reach the targeted quantum of 50,000 tonnes by the year 2023 and thereby to increase its market footprint across the country. Today there are about 100 self-help groups associated with the Life Spice Federation. Trinity holds the post of assistant general secretary in the federation.
The efforts of Trinity have enabled her to extend her marketing networks to several other states like Kerala, Karnataka, Haryana, Punjab, West Bengal, Maharashtra, Assam, Mysore, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh. Her aim going forward is to reach out to overseas markets as well.