Drone technology has gotten most of the recognition in the industry because of its diversity and is considered the future for the agrarian community. The military initially used them. However, other sectors quickly embraced Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) when they learned about its widespread applications.
Why adopt Agricultural Drones?
How can drones support Indian agriculture? Drones don’t merely enhance overall performance but also encourage farmers to solve other assorted barriers and receive plenty of benefits through precision agriculture. With the market for agricultural drones reaching a whopping US$ 1.3 billion, UAVs fill the gap of human error and inefficiency by traditional farming methods. The purpose of adopting drone technology is to exclude any guesswork or ambiguity and instead focus on accurate and reliable information.
External factors like weather, soil conditions, and temperature play a critical role in farming. Agriculture drone empowers the farmer to adapt to specific environments and make mindful choices accordingly. The gained data helps regulate crop health, crop treatment, crop scouting, irrigation, and carry out field soil analysis and crop damage assessments. The drone survey helps boost crop yields and minimise time and expenses.
According to experts, the predicted world population will be 9 billion by 2050. Agricultural consumption is also said to increase simultaneously by nearly 70%. Drone technology, equipped with Artificial Intelligence (AI), Machine Learning (ML), and remote sensing features, are rising in demand because of its advantages. The central government has acknowledged the importance of UAVs, ML and AI with their ‘Digital Sky Platform’ online. Drone startups in India have used this opportunity to accomplish better technological capacities.
How does Drone technology work?
Only after complete recognition of drone characteristics can one gain in-depth knowledge about agriculture drones. Typically, drones include a navigation system, GPS, multiple sensors, high-quality cameras, programmable controllers, and tools for autonomous drones. The DJI is one such familiar drone utilised by the industry. Most farmers currently use satellite imagery as an introductory guide for farm management. Furnished with modern technology, UAVs can get more precise data than satellites for precision agriculture. They then process the data captured into agri-tech software to produce beneficial knowledge
Capturing data from agriculture drone takes place as in the following stages:
Analysing the area: This identifies the territory being tested. Therefore, the first step includes establishing a boundary, analyses of the area, and then finally, uploading the technical GPS information into the drone’s navigation system.
Using Autonomous Drones: Since UAVs are independent, they enter flight patterns into their already established system to collect required data.
Uploading the data: After capturing all the required data through sensors such as the multispectral sensor/RGB sensor, it is processed through numerous software for further analysis and interpretation.
Output: After collecting the data, they format it so that farmers can understand the data with no hassle, bringing them a step closer to precision farming. 3D mapping or Photogrammetry are popular methods to display extensive data collected.
Best Drone practices
Drone technology quickly reestablishes traditional agrarian practices and is subsequently accomplishing them as follows:
1. Irrigation Monitoring: Drones, including hyperspectral, thermal, or multispectral sensors, recognise areas that are too dry or need improvement by the farmer. Drone survey helps improve water efficiency and disclose potential pooling/leaks in irrigation by providing Irrigation monitoring yields calculations of the vegetation index to help realise the health of crops and emitted heat/energy.
2. Crop Health Monitoring and Surveillance: It is crucial to track the health of the vegetation and spot bacterial/fungal plagues in the early stages. Agriculture drones can see which plants reflect different amounts of green light and Near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) light. This data helps produce multispectral images to track crop health. Quick monitoring and discoveries of any defects can help save crops. In circumstances of crop failure, the farmer can also document the damages for accurate insurance claims.
3. Crop Damage Assessment:Agricultural drones fitted along with multispectral sensors and RGB sensors also detect field areas inflicted by weeds, infections, and pests. According to this data, the exact amounts of chemicals needed to fight these infestations are known, and this helps diminish the costs inflicted by the farmer.
4. Field Soil Analysis: The drone survey allows farmers to obtain information about their land’s soil conditions. Multispectral sensors allow seizing data useful for seed planting patterns, thorough field soil analysis, irrigation, and nitrogen-level management. Precise Photogrammetry/ 3D mapping permits farmers to analyse their soil conditions thoroughly.
5. Planting: Drone startups in India have invented drone-planting systems that allow drones to shoot pods, their seeds, and crucial nutrients into the soil. This technology doesn’t only reduce costs by almost 85% but also increases consistency and efficiency.
6. Agricultural spraying: Through drone crop spraying, human contact with harmful chemicals is limited. Agri-drones can carry out this task much quicker than vehicles/airplanes. Drones with RGB sensors and multispectral sensors can precisely identify and treat problematic areas. Professionals say that aerial spraying is five times faster with drones when compared to other methods.
7. Livestock tracking: The drone survey allows the farmers not to keep track of their crops only but also monitor the movements of their cattle. Thermal sensor technology helps find lost animals and detect an injury or sickness. Drones can carry out this function favourably, and this adds comprehensively to the production of vegetation.
Benefits of Drone technology
As innovators introduce new technologies, their commercial uses increase day by day. The government has been easing restrictions for drone usage and is supporting startups to come up with novel ideas. As drone surveys become more common, they also become more cost-effective. In agriculture, they have a plethora of advantages. Some are as follows:
1. Enhanced Production – The farmer can improve production capabilities through comprehensive irrigation planning, adequate monitoring of crop health, increased knowledge about soil health, and adaptation to environmental changes.
2. Effective and Adaptive Techniques – Drone usage results in regular updates to farmers about their crops and helps develop strengthened farming techniques. They can adapt to weather conditions and allocate resources without any wastage.
3. Greater safety of farmers – It is safer and more convenient for farmers to use drones to spray pesticides in terrains challenging to reach, infected areas, taller crops, and power lines. It also helps farmers prevent spraying the crops, which leads to less pollution and chemicals in the soil.
4. 10x faster data for quick decision-making – Drone surveys back farmers with accurate data processing that encourages them to make quick and mindful decisions without second-guessing, allowing farmers to save the time invested in crop scouting. Various sensors of the drone enable capturing and analyzing data from the entire field. The data can focus on problematic areas such as infected crops/unhealthy crops, different colored crops, moisture levels, etc. The drone can be fixed with several sensors for other crops, allowing a more accurate and diverse crop management system.
5. Less wastage of resources – Agri-drones enables optimum usage of all resources such as fertiliser, water, seeds, and pesticides.
6. 99% Accuracy rate – The drone survey helps farmers calculate the precise land size, segment the various crops, and indulge in soil mapping.
7. Useful for Insurance claims – Farmers use the data captured through drones to claim crop insurance in case of any damages. They even calculate risks/losses associated with the land while being insured.
8. Evidence for insurance companies – Agricultural insurance sectors use Agri-drones for efficient and trustworthy data. They capture the damages that have occurred for the right estimation of monetary payback to the farmers.
Locust swarms
Locust swarms are known to feed on crops, trees, and other types of plants. This feeding can destroy crops planted, causing famine and deprivation in societies that solely rely on these crops for survival. In recent times, swarms of locusts have invaded several areas in India, especially Rajasthan. With nearly 90,000 Hectares of land affected across 20 districts, these growing swarms are threatening to amplify into an agrarian disaster.
Most nations battling locust swarms rely significantly on organophosphate chemicals. These are utilised in little concentrated lots by vehicle-mounted and aerial sprayers. Rajasthan has stationed drones to carry out the spraying efficiently. Drones can diffuse pesticides on approximately 2.5-acres in merely 15 minutes. Using drones to combat the locust swarms is an immediate, secure, and practical approach.
Final thoughts
As mentioned before, agricultural drone technology is undoubtedly the future of the Indian agrarian community. It can transform traditional farming methods in uncountable ways. Even though this technology is more complex to be familiar with, it will yield its results in no time once learned.
Farmers must understand the entire process. Determination of goals, creating an equilibrium in the drone and software utilised, and being familiar with the principles of using such technology will stand as a challenge. The farmers will inevitably need comprehensive training or partnerships with third-party experts like in the drone industry for the acquisition of reliable data. Drones have changed the course of obtaining data in almost every type of industry and will only deem to become bigger and better in the coming years.
Source: https://www.equinoxsdrones.com/
