Aerial boon for farming

News: Within a year after the government liberalised the drone policy, the farm sector has become the biggest user of these multi-utility flying robots. The country’s agricultural drone market is projected to grow at a robust annual rate of over 25% in the next five to six years.

What is the reason for increasing drone usage in Agriculture?

a) Shortage of farm labour in agriculturally progressive regions is contributing to growth in drones’ demand, b) Reduced cost in hiring drones: The cost of hiring drone service is expected to fall (to Rs 350-450 per acre) as the scale of its use increases for common services, such as applying plant protection chemicals or crop nutrients. This is far lower than that of getting the same work done manually or with conventional machines.

Other contributory factors

a) Government support: The government support the use of drone through various acts such as a slew of financial and other kinds of incentives, a production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme for the drone sector and conducting “Bharat Drone Mahotsava 2022”. Further, inclusive drone development is one of the four priorities of the government,

b) Increased flow of private investment into the UAVs sector, c) Numerous enterprises, ranging from start-ups to well-established auto companies, have come forward to manufacture and set up facilities to provide custom-hiring services to farmers, d) Drone exports: Many drone makers got export orders from Japan and other Asian and Gulf countries.

e) Skill training: The civil aviation ministry expects that around 100,000 skilled drone pilots may be urgently required to operate these unmanned aerial vehicles. The minimum education qualification has been reduced to passing class 12 to facilitate a greater enrolment of the rural youth for this purpose.

Thus, India seems to have the potential to become the global leader in manufacturing and utilising UAVs and reduce the Chinese dominance in the global bazaar for drones.

How drones are used in Agriculture?

Firstly, Drones are employed in agriculture for a variety of purposes such as estimating the planted area and likely production, assessing crop damage by pests and diseases, and digitising land records, apart from their most common use for spraying pesticides and plant nutrients.

Secondly, The use of drones in the farm sector is unlikely to remain confined to a few broad areas, such as spraying, surveying, mapping, and surveillance.

Thirdly, Specially designed sensors equipped with artificial intelligence tools can enable drones to distinguish between healthy and diseased or pest-infested plants for better targeting of pesticides and other plant-protection chemicals.

Fourthly, large drones can be used to transport farm produce, especially perishable items like vegetables, fruit, meat, and fish, to markets directly from farms in the least possible time and with minimum damage to the stuff.

All this could enable farmers to fetch higher prices due to the better quality and freshness of their produce.  Drones, if used prudently, can prove to be a major game-changer for the farm sector.

Source: The post is based on the article “Aerial boon for farming” published in “Business Standard” on 27^th June 2022.