Drone technology is a phenomenal innovation with potential to transform the way the routine manual activities are carried out in agriculture. Agricultural industries globally are increasingly using drone technology to modernize farming. 

The drone used for agricultural activities is known as agriculture drone. Drones are designed to carry the sensors that can provide real-time information about the crop status or livestock movement, so that decision on cultural operations and management is made efficiently and precisely.

However, drone applications are limited in India due to the cost of drones, operational policy, and limited availability of technically trained pilots in the drone market. Hiring an urban drone team to conduct a remotely located small field survey is extremely expensive for any assessment or crop planning at the grassroots level.

Some of the real problems with drones in agriculture in India

• Flight time and range: Like other commercial drones, agricultural drones have short flight durations, ranging from 20 to 60 minutes, due to their relatively higher payloads. As a result, each charge can cover only a small area of land. As a result of which the cost rises dramatically as the flight time increases.

• Connectivity: Online coverage in India is mostly unavailable in arable farms. In such cases, the farmers who want to use drones must either invest in connectivity or purchase drones that can store data locally in a format that can be transferred and processed later.

• Weather dependency: Drones, unlike traditional aircraft, are difficult to fly in windy or rainy conditions. All drones are affected by the weather.

• Knowledge and skill: Drone images require specialized skills and knowledge to translate into useful information, which an average farmer lacks. In these circumstances, the farmer must either learn how to use image processing software or hire skilled personnel familiar with the software.

• Misuse: There is a chance of misuse to infringe people’s privacy and illegal transfer of information.

• Battery problems: A normal drone can cover six acres with a single battery charge in 25 minutes. The cost of batteries used in drones could be discouraging. The number of flights for spray could be high. It is 12-15 flights with the current concentration of chemicals. This leads to the major problem of higher battery utilization and subsequent draining of its efficiency and resulting in higher costs in drone application compared to manual spraying.

• Issues with aerial spraying: Drones help save 95 per cent of the water used for spraying pesticides or insecticides. It is enough if 150-200 ml of pesticide or insecticide is mixed in 8 liters of water. This is since different chemicals have now come up and they need less water for dilution, especially with the emergence of drones. Experts say since landholdings are small in India, it would be easy to monitor the functioning of drones, be it spraying fertilizers, insecticides or pesticides. But the small size could turn out to be a problem. There are some problems with aerial spraying –

• It could contaminate water bodies and can affect small water streams.

• Animals could become victims.

• Appropriate height, speed, wind and ground tactics are needed in view of safety and security.

• Not all crops covered:  The pesticide or fungicide can be sprayed on the leaves to the required extent. A special nozzle is used for spraying. Most of the pests and insects reside below the leaves. When they turn upside down due to the air pressure of the fans, these pests and insects are exposed to the spray. But drones cannot be used for all crops e.g. they cannot be used for spraying on grapes whose leaves form a canopy making spraying difficult.

Conclusion

Notwithstanding the plethora of benefits, the challenges remain, mostly on initial cost, service models, regulatory and security fronts. Most countries, including India, have yet to finalize the regulatory policies for drone use in agriculture. Coupled with this is the lack of expertise in India of the personnel who can fly drones, read the images accurately and provide the specific advisory for various farming operations. Another major concern is the implementation of the regulations, once approved. Specific federal, state and district levels, in some cases, village level (group of villages) agencies need to be formed who are equipped with the expertise, proper authority and technology to monitor the use of drones in agriculture in compliance with regulatory frameworks. It is still a long way before farmers, and other stakeholders in agriculture can use drones efficiently and smoothly to reap monetary benefits.