Experts say while drone applications occupy an important place in the Agriculture 4.0 vision, the innovations work best when allied with policy-level interventions to sustain the agricultural sector.
| Photo Credit: KSL
Agri-drone maker IoTechWorld Avigation on 10th July said it has secured a large contract from cooperative fertiliser major IFFCO for supplying 500 drones, which will be primarily used for spraying nano liquid urea and DAP.
The Indian Farmers Fertiliser Cooperative Limited (IFFCO) plans to procure 2,500 drones for spraying its products nano urea and nano DAP (Diammonium Phosphate).
IFFCO also plans to create 5,000 rural entrepreneurs, who would be trained for spraying via drones.
“The company will deliver 500 drones to IFFCO by December 2023,” the company’s co-founder Anoop Upadhyay said in a statement.
Gurugram-headquartered IoTechWorld is a manufacturer of India’s first DGCA-type certified drone ‘AGRIBOT’. The company is also backed by agro-chemical firm Dhanuka Agritech Ltd.
“The AGRIBOT [krishi drone] has been specially designed and programmed for fertilizers. The order from IFFCO is [a testament to] our strength in the agri-drone segment,” said the company’s other co-founder Deepak Bhardwaj.
The use of drones not only saves time and money but also increases farm productivity. Besides, the use of drones in farming activities such as spraying pesticides over crops has health benefits for farmers, he said.
Asserting that the drone market was rapidly growing, Mr. Bhardwaj said there has been tremendous demand from various companies including fertilizer and pesticides companies, as well as from rural entrepreneurs including farmers.
Besides IFFCO, IoTechWorld Avigation has also partnered with agrochemical company Syngenta and has undertaken 17,000 km of drone yatra in various parts of the country.
The company aims to sell more than 3,000 drones this fiscal year and is also exploring opportunities for export in regions like SAARC, South East Asia, Latin America, Europe, Australia, New Zealand, etc.
The company along with its partners is also focussing on creating village-level entrepreneurs and helping in establishing remote pilot-training organisations across the country, he added.