The Department of Agriculture, on Friday, launched a first of its kind Agriculture Kisan Drone at the Integrated Extension Training Centre (IETC), Medziphema.

Agri Director M. Ben Yanthan, after inaugurating the Kisan Drone, said that one of the important announcements of Union Budget 2022-23 was that the promotion of the use of Kisan Drones for crop assessment, digitization of land records, spraying of insecticides and nutrients. The Ministry of Civil Aviation has already notified the liberalized Drone Rules 2021, he added.

Yanthan said that the Department of Agriculture felt the need to first familiarize itself with this new technology by way of conducting demonstrations at Department Research Stations and farmers’ fields wherever feasible and need arises.

He also mentioned to promote use of drones in agriculture and make drone technology affordable to the farmers and other stakeholders of this sector, the provisions have been made under the guidelines of Sub-Mission Agricultural Mechanization (SMAM). The Director further informed that the Department of Agriculture has received sanctions for procurement of two drones under Component-4 of the SMAM Guideline during the Financial Year 2022-23 which is at the subsidized financial assistance of 40 % of the total cost of the Kisan Drone and that the drones will be placed at two important institutes of the Department namely SARS and IETC.  These drones will be deployed to conduct various demonstration activities by the two trained pilots, Yanthan said.

Further, he highlighted that the use of drone technology in agriculture is here to stay and this emerging technology can help reduce time and increase the efficiencies of the farmers in the case of pesticide spraying, replacing labour-intensive and hazardous conventional methods, particularly in difficult areas such as hills and dense crops such as sugarcane for precision agriculture.

The Agri Director also said that drone for agriculture use is gaining immense popularity due to its precision in collection of crop and field data and how they help farmers stay ahead of any farming challenges. These drones for agriculture help with the following – reducing operational costs, improving crop quality and increasing yield, he added.

While highlighting on Dhaksha Agriculture drones, Medovilie Ladu, JDA, Sub-Mission Agricultural Mechanization (SMAM) said that Agriculture Drone empowers the farmers to adapt to specific environments and make mindful choices accordingly and the gained data helps regulate crop health, crop treatment, crop scouting, irrigation and carry out field soil analysis and crop damage assessments. Ladu also highlighted that an agricultural drone is an unmanned aerial vehicle applied to farming in order to help increase crop production and monitor crop growth.

During the programme the Demonstration of Kisan Drone was presented by Thangaraj Smart Dhaksha Unmanned System Pvt. Ltd Chennai India.

Welcome address was delivered by C. Peter Yanthan, Addl. Director and vote of thanks by Pikato Jimo Dy. DA, SMAM.