Drone farming in Sundarbans is a new initiative to save farmers time, labor and money

• April 01, 2023

This time the benefits of drones are also being taken in agriculture. Nimpeeth Ramakrishna Ashram Agronomy Center started using this technology to save time, labor and money for the farmers of Sundarbans. Chemical fertilizers and organic pesticides are being applied to agricultural land through drones.

The Indian Council of Agricultural Research, Government of India, has taken up the plan to apply chemical fertilizers and pesticides in agricultural fields through the use of drones on an experimental basis in certain agronomic centers of the country.

These state-of-the-art agricultural services are provided by five agronomy centers in West Bengal. Nimpeeth Ramakrishna Ashram Agricultural Science Center is one of them. Chandan Kumar Mandal, the chief scientist there, says that the farmers of the vast area of ​​Sundarbans including Jayanagar Block 1 and 2 of South 24 Parganas, Mathurapur, Patharpratima, Kultali, Mandirbazar will get the benefits of applying fertilizers and pesticides on the land by using this new technology.

He said, "It used to take about 6 to 8 hours for farmers to apply pesticides or fertilizers on one acre of land. Farmers can spray pesticides or chemical fertilizers on an acre of land in just 8 minutes through drones. This will save them time, labor and money – all three.”

For the past few days, the use of this drone has been going on experimentally in different areas of Jayanagar Block 2. Farmers are both happy and curious about the new method. Prafulla Makhal, a veteran farmer of Shahjadapur in Jayanagar, said that he cultivated cotton in his one acre land. Until last year, they sprayed pesticides on that land throughout the day. But this time, in just 8 minutes, the drone of the Agricultural Science Center spread chemical fertilizers on his entire land. Agronomist Somnath Sardar says that 10 liters of chemical fertilizers or pesticides can be sprayed on an acre of land in just 8 minutes by sending a drone to a certain height from the cultivated land. How effective this system is will be known in a few days.

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