Flying tractors can make money. Here’s the math
₹7.5 lakh per drone, it is an investment of ₹1.5 crore. A chunk of this capital investment was financed through the Agriculture Infrastructure Fund set up by the union government, which provides loans at concessional rates of 6% per year. A year of awareness campaigns and demonstrations seem to have paid off.
“The technology is so popular that we are often unable to service the demand during peak growing seasons. Farmers who have used drones vouch for its effectiveness," Singh claimed. How are drones making a difference? Farmers usually spray pesticides or liquid nutrients using hired labour who carry 20 litre knapsack tanks on their back—a drudgery during scorching summer months.
Manual spraying usually costs around ₹200 per acre in labour charges and takes between 30-45 minutes. In comparison, spraying by drones with a payload of 10 litre takes just 5-7 minutes for an acre. Hiring a drone costs around ₹300-500 for an acre, higher than manual spraying.
But the spraying is more uniform and effective as the thrust created by the drone’s wings spray chemicals evenly in a fine mist, down to the bottom of the plants. This is also safer as manual spraying entails the risk of contamination for workers, and serious health hazards and deaths in some cases. Drones are more effective while spraying on tall crops like sugarcane which are over 10 ft high.
Workers often find it difficult to spray on those crops. The other benefit is a significant reduction in use of water. Usually, 150-200 litres of water is used for manual spraying in an acre, compared to just 10 litres using drones.
Read more on livemint.com
