A demonstration on the use of a drone to spray pesticide on an areca farm was held at Belegadde village in Koppa taluk on Thursday. The event attracted over 200 farmers from different villages in the taluk.
B.C. Narendra, a progressive farmer and president of District Krishik Samaj, organised the demonstration at his areca farm with the help of technicians from General Aeronautics in Bengaluru.
“Maintaining areca plantation has become highly expensive as the price of all commodities besides the cost of labour has gone up. We need to have alternative systems to reduce the input cost. Use of drones could be one of the alternatives,” said Mr. Narendra.
He was impressed with the demonstration at his farm. However, he felt the design of the drone developed by General Aeronautics was more suitable for coffee plantations than areca. The drone with a five-litre container, in which pesticide is filled, is handled with a remote. Farmers need training in handling the drone.
Innovative methods
Many progressive farmers have adopted innovative technologies to spray medicine. Ganesh Shetty of Sringeri has done a demonstration of spraying medicine using a robot.
“Drones help in reducing the cost substantially. Moreover, we are not getting skilled labour. It is high time we farmers adopt new technologies to minimise dependence on labour. I’m hopeful that drones would serve the purpose,” Mr. Narendra added.
