Drone technology is all the rage right now because of its numerous applications, and future possibilities in farming. Initially, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) were used by the military, but other industries quickly leveraged the wide range of applications for UAVs. Drones encourage farmers to overcome a wide range of obstacles and reap numerous benefits from precision farming in addition to enhancing overall performance. Human error and inefficiency in traditional farming methods leave a $1.3 billion market void that UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicles) can fill. Let’s explore further
Drone technology is being used to eliminate any ambiguity or guesswork and instead focus on accurate and reliable information. Young budding entrepreneurs in India’s agro sector have been enticed by the recent trends of using drones to improve overall farming operations. Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana – Remunerative Approaches for Agriculture and Allied Sectors Rejuvenation (RKVY-RAFTAAR) is a groundbreaking initiative from the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare (MoA&FW) to further support these startups. It aims to improve agricultural and allied sector infrastructure to encourage agribusiness and agripreneurship by facilitating financial aid and cultivating a business incubator system.
Elaborating further on the benefits of these flying machines, Devan Chandrasekharan, Founder and Managing Director, Fuselage Innovations said, “We at Fuselage Innovations address the need to increase the efficiency and sustainability of the farming business by deploying the most advanced solution for mapping and diagnostics of farmland through dedicated Unmanned Aerial Vehicles/drones.
Our vision is sustainable agriculture and food security through universal digital access to agronomy knowledge and best farming practices.”
“Doing current projects, we realised that the idea we have put forward has a huge impact on the agricultural sector. By adopting our drone farming method, we have been able to increase
the crop yield of the farmers by 35 per cent and reduce the utilisation of agricultural resources by up to 70 per cent. Yield loss could be minimised by being able to detect the disease earlier and
for that, our FIA spectra UAV is best suited for this job,” he added. Currently, the company is working with 220 farmers in Kerala on a consolidated area of about 10000 acres. The firm is providing its services to these farmers on a regular basis and in future, it is planning to expand its services to pan India level.
Hurdles blocking the growth
As operating drones requires a specialised set of skills, there’s a lot of potential for creating jobs in rural areas by offering training in this area. A total of around 2.1 million new rural jobs are expected to be created as a result of these cuttingedge technologies. But still there are a number of issues that need to be addressed in order for adoption to be successful. Highlighting one major issue, Mrinal Pai, CoFounder, Skylark Drones said “In addition to the advantages, the use of drones in agriculture has some limitations. Due to their larger payloads, drones can fly for 20-60 minutes on a single charge. This results in a smaller area covered per charge and a higher operating cost for the drone. Research into developing lighter, longerlasting batteries for agricultural drones needs to be accelerated by the government in order to increase their operational flexibility.”
He further said, “At the very first time, the farmers give us a very confused look when we brief them about our innovative solutions. But as they get used to our products and services then it is a smooth ride for them. This is a very important aspect of our business to make farmers aware of the benefits that this technology brings to them and for that, we provide free services to them on an initial stage.”
Enhancing the skill set of the farmers
As mentioned earlier, operating drones require a different set of skills and to attain these, proper training is required so that these flying machines can be operated at an ease. But unlike in the past, now most of the farmers are technically sound therefore; these farmers can be trained easily. Concurrently, it will create enormous job opportunities as more of the youth will join the agro sector and with their knowledge and skills, this technology can revolutionise this entire domain. To meet the growing demand for drones in agriculture, the newly established Kaushalya – The Skill University (KSU) in Ahmedabad has established its School of Drones, which will enrol and train 20,000 children from rural backgrounds and farming families. The university has come up with the idea of “trainer entrepreneurs” as a solution to the lack of available drone technology trainers. It has taken the university five years to put together a road map that includes input from civil aviation, flying schools, drone federations, drone startups, and industry leaders. Drone flying skills, drone assembly and maintenance, value-added services such as data analysis and artificial intelligence application, among other things, are all part of the curriculum at KSU’s ‘School of Drones,’ which will be established in the near future.Using the infrastructure of the university, these trainers whose remuneration will be linked
to their performance, will be paid by the state government through university in case of free or subsidised training. More the trainees, the more, the trainers earn with the university fixing the rates.
Nitin Konde
