Remote-controlled drones are gradually gaining traction with some tech-savvy farmers in several villages, mainly in mandals bordering Andhra Pradesh, putting them to good use in these times of COVID-19 pandemic-induced farm labour shortage.
A couple of farmers in Siripuram and Astnagurthy villages in Wyra mandal and a few villages in Chintakani mandal have already started using drones for spraying pesticides on crops.
A progressive farmer of Venkatagiri village in Thallada mandal set a relatively new trend in the district by using a drone to spray the natural neem oil as part of organic pest control methods.
The availability of locally built drones, exclusively designed for spraying of pesticides, in the market in big towns of the neighbouring State is prompting some tech-savvy farmers to buy them for their own use and for letting the devices to other interested farmers on hire basis.
Labour shortage
This trend is gradually catching up even as the problem of labour shortage continuous to persist and more farmers evincing keen interest in drones to harness its potential for pesticide spraying operations. However, most of them are unaware of the regulations governing the aerial spraying of pesticides.
Sources in the Agriculture Department said aerial spraying of pesticide needs approval from the Central government agencies concerned.
Sources added that there is no provision for use of drones for spraying pesticide in the Insecticides Act, 1968.
“We have started using a drone for pesticide spraying recently and found it very useful in terms of saving time, cost of chemical and above all overcoming the shortage of farm labour," said M Venkateshwara Rao, a progressive farmer of Siripuram (Kanakagiri) village in Wyra mandal.
The drone equipped with micro sprayers, without any cameras, is proving to be immensely useful in spraying pesticide on our paddy crops with precision, Mr Rao, who is an agricultural graduate, said. It is completing the spraying operation in one acre field in less than 15 minutes as against hours of toiling involved in manual spraying method, he noted, adding that they have hired a trained person for operation of the drone.
When contacted by The Hindu , Joint Director of Agriculture, Khammam, Vijaya Nirmala said the department has not yet received any specific guidelines pertaining to the use of drones for pesticide spraying.
