Agricultural drones: The shape of Indian agriculture to come
As of January 2018, the agriculture sector’s contribution to India’s GDP was 17–18 per cent, according to India Economic Survey […]
Anushruti Singh January 10, 2019
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As of January 2018, the agriculture sector’s contribution to India’s GDP was 17–18 per cent, according to India Economic Survey 2018. Given the importance of agriculture in the economy of India, the 2003 NSS 59th assessment of the sector should be worrisome because it reveals that 40 per cent of Indian farmers would rather be in some other profession and not farming. One of the primary reasons of this disgruntlement is declining returns on investment (ROIs) and other problems such as crop diseases and improper planning of resources.The use of agriculture drones can take care of a lot of problems that currently plagues the sector, including crop health monitoring, crop treatment and crop scouting, and the importance of these unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) has been recognised by both governments and startups. On the one hand, the central government has launched an online platform called Digital Sky Platform for the registration of drones and their operators and on the other, there are 35 drone startups in the country that are working to raise the technological capabilities and reduce the prices of agriculture drones, aka agri-drones. This article is on such drones and the impact they will have in India’s agriculture sector.Even though agri-drones have not quite arrived in India yet, definitely not on the scale needed, the technology has already started showing an impact. A case in point comes from Maharashtra where sugarcane farmer Babusaheb Tawde’s crop was struck by wilt disease and was diagnosed and saved from being destroyed by agri-drones that captured data with NDVI (Normalised Difference Vegetation Index) and RGB sensors. The agri-drone that helped Tawde was designed and manufactured by Bengaluru-based 3Thi Robotics, which is working to raise awareness about UAVs among farmers through real-life demonstrations of their usefulness.Vasant Bhat, Co-founder at 3Thi Robotics told us that the biggest challenge impeding the use of agri-drones in India is an acute shortage of skilled manpower to fly, use and maintain the machines. Tawde is now firmly convinced that technology is the only way to better agricultural practices.Mumbai-based drone startup Pigeon Innovative which started with the design and manufacture of drones for photography drones has also ventured into the agri-drones business and is already running a few pilot projects. “The long-term plan is to manufacture drones for farmers which can carry 20 litres of pesticides for bigger farms. Also, we will manufacture as per the demand grows,” Pigeon Co-founder Dewang Kishor Gala told us.India, being a largely agrarian society, has a lot to gain if it taps the full potential agri-drones. These drones can help our farmers increase production by using these drones for:
- prevention of environmental damage;
- effective monitoring of crop health;
- getting insights into the soil health; and,
- planning irrigation and the proper use of resources compost.