Experts suggest that these drones may revolutionize pesticide or fertilizer application in Punjab fields, which have traditionally been carried out manually either by hired laborers or the farmers themselves. However, manual application comes with several challenges. Drones address many of these, and provide other benefits like reducing costs and increasing yields.

1. 01
   

   Protecting farmers from pesticides

   Manual application of pesticides is labor-intensive. It can take a worker several hours to cover an acre of land — a task which drones can complete in only 5-7 minutes — during which they come in close contact with harmful pesticides. This is particularly important when it comes to tall crops like maize and sugarcane, where workers often get drenched in pesticides during application.

   Close and prolonged contact with pesticides as well as chemical fertilizers can be very harmful to farmers’ health. In Punjab, this has been a major issue with farmers seeing higher-than-normal incidence of cancer cases, kidney ailments, immunological disorders, Parkinson’s disease, and infertility as a result of wanton pesticide application. By taking pesticide application out of farmers’ hands (literally) drones can thus protect farmers’ health.

2. 02
   

   More efficient application

   Drones allow for more efficient application in more ways than one.

   Manual spraying often leaves some parts of the crop untreated. This adversely impacts yields. In contrast, drone-based applications are more uniform. Gurpreet Singh, a farmer from the village of Bhagthala Kalan in Faridkot district, reported that pests persisted even after two manual sprayings, but since he started using a drone for pesticide application, his maize crop became healthy and yields have gone up.

   Moreover, drones address the challenge of applying nano fertilizers such as nano urea and nano DAP, which need to be used in very small quantities. Uniform manual applications of these nano fertilizers can be challenging, preventing their widespread use even though they are more cost-efficient. For example, a 500 ml bottle of nano urea which is sufficient for covering one acre of farmland costs Rs 225 — a 45 kg bag of urea costs Rs 266, with farmers needing 2.5 to 3 bags per acre. Nano fertilizers are also more environmentally friendly (more on that later).

3. 03
   

   Crop monitoring and emergency applications

   Drones can also be used for capturing detailed, real-time images of the fields, allowing farmers to monitor crop health and make prompt interventions if needed. This is especially important in the case of epidemics.

   For instance, in recent years, the pink bollworm has ravaged cotton crops in Punjab (and neighboring states). This pestilence can be mitigated by regular and proper monitoring of crops — something which farmers often fail to do. Drones are a game-changer in this regard. Moreover, drones can quickly cover vast swathes of land with pesticides not only in cases of pink bollworm infestation but also during ocust swarms and whitefly infestations.

4. 04
   

   Environmental benefits

   Drones can be environmentally beneficial in several ways.

   First, up to 90 percent nutrients in nano fertilizers applied via drones are absorbed by plants, reducing runoff and minimizing air, water, and soil pollution. In contrast, traditional application methods can lead up to 60 percent of nutrients being lost to the air.

   Second, leave based application — unlike soil based application of traditional urea and DAP fertilizers — are significantly better when it comes to soil pollution. In Punjab, where fertilizer usage is already the highest in the country, this reduction in soil pollution is beneficial for soil health, and over time, the health of crops and consumers themselves.

   Third, traditional methods of pesticide application are extremely water-intensive. Drones can cut down water consumption by up to 90 percent.

5. 05
   

   Other innovative uses

   Besides spraying pesticides and fertilisers, drones are also being explored for innovative projects such as “seed ball” bombing — basically dropping balls of soil and cow dung containing seeds over swathes of land. In Hoshiarpur, this is being seen as a way to potentially reforest large swathes of land.

Challenges

Perhaps the biggest issue, when it comes to the adoption of drones, is the elimination of several jobs which were till now being held by laborers. This is especially so because not only are drones more efficient, they are also cheaper than hiring laborers. Drones cost roughly Rs 200 per acre of coverage, whereas labor costs currently stand at around Rs 300 per acre.

Additionally, pilots also need training, not only to fly drones but to effectively cover entire fields while spraying fertilizers and pesticides.