Aerial boon for farming

In less than a year after the government liberalised the drone policy in August last year, the farm sector has become the biggest user of these multi-utility flying robots. These are being employed in agriculture for a variety of purposes like 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. Standard operating procedures (SOPs) for using drones in farming, forestry, and other purposes in the rural sector have been notified by the agriculture ministry to take care of safety and other aspects.

The country’s agricultural drone market is projected to grow at a robust annual rate of over 25 per cent in the next five to six years. The shortage of farm labour in agriculturally progressive regions is also contributing to growth in drones’ demand. The civil aviation ministry expects that around 100,000 skilled drone pilots may be urgently required to operate these unmanned aerial vehicles through remote control. A large number of the youth would, therefore, need to be trained in handling the drones. The minimum education qualification has been reduced to passing class 12 to facilitate a greater enrolment of the rural youth for this purpose.
 

Interestingly, India seems to have the potential to become the global leader in manufacturing and gainfully utlising these mini aircraft. The optimism on this count emanates as much from the copious flow of private investment into this sector as from the support it is getting from the government. Numerous enterprises, ranging from start-ups to well-established auto companies, have already come forward to manufacture these contraptions and set up facilities to provide custom-hiring services to farmers. The sector’s growth received the needed impetus from Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s announcement in her 2022 Budget speech that inclusive drone development would be one of the four priorities of the government. Prime Minister Narendra Modi went a step further to proclaim during the recently held drone festival “Bharat Drone Mahotsava 2022” in New Delhi that India would become the drone hub of the world by 2030.

A slew of financial and other kinds of incentives have been doled out by the government to promote the indigenous production of drones for use in agriculture. The production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme, applicable to select industries, has been extended to the drone-manufacturing sector as well. Besides, liberal grants and subsidies have been announced for different stakeholders with the ultimate objective of making the use of these multi-utility aerial vehicles affordable for farmers. These include a subsidy of 100 per cent on the cost of drones for agricultural research institutions, 75 per cent for farm cooperatives and farmers’ producer organisations (FPOs), and 40 per cent for enterprises offering custom-hiring services to farmers.

This apart, the government — to encourage local production — has banned importing drones. Their components have, however, been exempt from this ban for the time being. Given the burgeoning domestic demand, promising export prospects, and favourable policy framework, many drone manufacturers have set ambitious production targets, running into thousands of drones a year. Some drone makers are reported to have already received export orders from Japan and other Asian and Gulf countries. Indications are that India may soon be able to challenge Chinese dominance in the global bazaar for drones. The industry is upbeat about exports also because of the better quality and cheaper prices of Indian drones than the Chinese products.

Significantly, 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. These adaptable devices would increasingly be used to raise the efficiency and precision of farm operations to boost output at reduced costs. Specially designed sensors equipped with artificial intelligence tools can enable these drones to distinguish between healthy and diseased or pest-infested plants for better targeting of pesticides and other plant-protection chemicals. Moreover, relatively 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 minimum damage to the stuff. This could enable farmers fetch higher prices due to the better quality and freshness of their produce.

The cost of hiring drone service, too, is expected to fall as the scale of its use increases. Industry sources feel this cost might tend to stabilise at Rs 350-450 per acre (roughly around Rs 1,000 per hectare) 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. Thus, the drones, if used prudently and to their full potential, can prove to be a major game changer for the farm sector.

surinder.sud@gmail.com