Farmers of Punjab will go hi-tech in the coming days. Soon, you will see a drone along with a farmer holding its remote and spraying insecticides in his fields.
The Farm Machinery and Engineering Department of the Punjab Agricultural University (PAU) is working on the project. If all goes well and experts of the agri varisty are satisfied with results then drones may soon be seen spraying insecticides in fields.
Dr Manjit Singh, head of the Farm Machinery and Engineering Department, PAU, said, “The university will be doing practical application of using drones for spraying in paddy and cotton fields. A private company is providing technology to the university.”
“The experiment will also be done on the upcoming paddy crop and after that on the cotton crop. We are hopeful that this will turn out to be labour saving and cost effective. Experiments are on. Its effectiveness will be known only after we are through with our experiments,” he said.
“If we are satisfied with results then farmers will be acquainted with this technique. Four nozzles will be fixed on a drone for spraying. It will also help in spraying at a faster speed,” he added.
“Using a drone will be a costly affair, but for the convenience of farmers they will be able to get it on rent. Presently, farmers face many difficulties while spraying insecticides and pesticides. If a farmer sprays himself it takes a lot of time. Sometimes, it also results in health problems. If he sprays with the help of a tractor it results in crop loss. Drones will be an effective alternative for farmers to spray crops,” said Dr Manjit.
Drones can spray pesticides in fields in only half an hour. Farmers can also monitor the quality of crop with thermal sensors. Drones can work wonders if advance image processing unit is integrated with these.

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