India is an agrarian economy with about 55 percent of total workforce engaged in agricultural and allied sector activities & contributes 17 to 18% to country’s GDP. India ranks first in the world with highest net cropped area followed by US and ranks second worldwide in farm outputs.
With the growing population, it has become necessary to increase the productivity with reduction in the cost of cultivation. This can be achieved through Mechanization in Agriculture. Mechanization also helps in improving utilization efficiency of other inputs , safety and comfort of the agricultural worker , improvements in the quality and value addition of the produce.
One important aspect of Mechanization is introduction of Drones in the Agriculture Sector.
Use of Drones in Agriculture
- Field Soil Analysis: Farmers can learn more about the soil characteristics using drones. The character and health of the soil may be monitored, modified, and maintained using UAVs, which collect and analyses data from monitoring systems. In-depth field soil analysis, irrigation, nitrogen-level management, and seed planting patterns can all benefit from data captured by multispectral sensors. Through data processing and 3D mapping, drones carry out the role of monitoring the condition of the soil.
- Plantation: Agriculture is a labor-intensive and time-consuming sector. Particularly seeding requires human labor because it is a lengthy procedure. To make this strenuous operation easier, drone technology can be employed to sow the seeds of several crop species. Drones can quickly and efficiently plant seeds even at the remote locations where it is difficult for human beings to reach.
- Irrigation Monitoring: Drones with hyperspectral, thermal, or multispectral sensors can identify regions that are overly dry or in need of farmer improvement. Drone survey provides irrigation monitoring yields calculations of the vegetation index to help realize the health of crops and emitted heat/energy, helping to increase water efficiency and reveal potential pooling/leaks in irrigation.
- Crop Health Monitoring and Surveillance: Monitoring the condition of the plants and identifying crop diseases early on are critical. Agricultural drones equipped with multispectral and RGB sensors can spot pests, diseases, and weeds in field regions. This information makes it possible to determine the precise quantities of chemicals required to combat these infestations, which lowers the costs incurred by the farmer.
- Pesticide Spraying: Pesticide Spraying using Drones is an important application which has gained popularity in the recent months. Government is trying its best to encourage Drone technology in the Agriculture sector due its inherent benefits. Spraying drones reduce the contact of hazardous chemicals with the human beings. Also, spraying can be done uniformly across all the field, covering all the crops. These drones can also be used to spray fertilizers for crop nourishment.
- Livestock Tracking: The farmers can track not just their crops but also the movements of their cattle using drones. Animals can be located and illnesses or injuries can be found using thermal sensor technology.
Team SCHNELL provides various kind services with Drones in Agriculture Sector. Our team is specialized on acquisition of farm data using Multispectral Sensors & carry out further data processing.
Drone Pilot Training –
Schnell has a team of expert pilots as we as instructor for Drone Pilot Training. Our team can impart training over different types of drones including mapping drone, surveillance drone, agricultural spraying drone etc. Schnell has trained more than 200 pilots across various states in India. This includes training to officials of Border Road Organization, Army Service Corps, Naval Ships, Forest Departments in Kerala & Goa, Police department as well as IITs.
Schnell is equipped with DGCA certified drones specially for training purpose with master & slave controllers.