A demonstration on the use of a drone to spray pesticide on a jasmine field was held at Sathyamangalam here on Thursday.
Jasmine is cultivated in over 25,000 acres in Bhavani Sagar, Kothamangalam, Thandampalayam and other areas in the block. Since the plants are affects by insects, pesticides are sprayed regularly to keep the plants healthy. Farmers said that the cost towards spraying pesticides using power sprayer manually is high and also it consumes time. Farmers were looking for an alternative, when they approached a Salem-based company that uses drone for the purpose.
On Thursday, the drone was used on a trial basis that can spray pesticides covering 40 acre a day. The drone with a container filled with pesticide is operated using a remote. Farmers said that using the power sprayers, they can cover about three acre a day. Also, use of drone helps them to spray pesticides evenly over the crops and also reduce the cost and time. Since they cannot purchase the drone, they urged the Horticulture Department to grant subsidy to farmers for purchasing it.
