Jammu & Kashmir Begins Drone Usage For Various Agricultural Purposes

On Friday, the Jammu and Kashmir authorities began using drones for spraying insecticide and other agricultural tasks. Under the "One village, one drone" initiative, drones were used in the Kathua district to spray insecticides on maize harvests to stave off the fall armyworm.

At Balan Pain village in Kathua's Hiranaga belt, trials for using drones in agricultural-related tasks were reportedly conducted, according to officials. The trial was launched in front of local farmers by Kathura deputy commissioner Rahul Pandey and block development committee chairman Brijeshwar Singh.

Insecticide and nano urea were sprayed in maize fields using drones in the department of agriculture's first trial, carried out by a specialised team. The goal of adopting drone technology into the agricultural industry, according to Pandey, is to lessen the difficulties faced by the farming community when doing agricultural chores.

According to Pandey, some farming chores that traditionally require hundreds of workers can be completed by a single drone in a matter of hours. According to Brijeshwer Singh, the chairperson of the block development committee, agricultural technology will save farmers' time and effort.

What Can Drones Be Used For In Agriculture?

Most people think of these drones as mere data collecting devices with sensors like cameras, LIDAR, are mounted on them for crop assessment and digitization of land records, however, drones may be used for a lot more than just that. One excellent example is the use of the Kisan drone as a pesticide sprayer (a.k.a. flying sprayer). These drones have tanks with a capacity of up to 5 – 10 kg filled with insecticides and liquid fertilizers.  

Moreover, drones save a lot of time and effort as they can spray insecticides on about 1 acre of land in just 15 minutes.  

Agriculture Drone Price in India

An agricultural drone often uses Internet-based smart technology to operate and performs precision farm activities such as spraying and crop health monitoring might range in price from 5 lakh to 10 lakh.

Drone services are initially expensive. Because of the overwhelming economies of scale, it will eventually become cheaper. We'll also have to consider the cost of human health in manual spraying versus drone spraying.