A1) Unmanned Aerial Vehicles have great potential in plant protection, notably to time pesticide applications and to follow up on evaluation of the treatments. They can streamline cost of monitoring.

A2) In case of bad weather (e.g. heavy winds and rainfall), they cannot be used. So one have to rely on classical methods (e.g. humans walking the fields to evaluate the situation)

A3) Regulatory challenges depend on the country. Some countries are strict about flying near civilian or military airports. Also, flying in urban zones may be restricted for various reasons (security, privacy).

Its a very pertinent question where land holding is small in a country like India. Where you have miles of conyiguous belt , its quite possible and quite successfully operational with great popularity..

Thank you Mr. Charles for pertinent points. Utility exists and enormous scope is prevailing in plant protection. But doses and label claim of pesticides are required to be re looked for their suitability through ultra low volume application.

UAV in plant protection is at it's infancy stage, there are a lot of studies to be conducted. First will be the regulatory issues, second will be the safety issues (mostly on the technical capabilities of each UAV to be used) and last would be the efficacy issues where proper dosages of different pesticides should be studied then labels of pesticide will clearly state the dosage if UAV will be used and what specific volume per area should be used to be effective. Last would be studies on the environment impact using this type of spray equipment.

UAV's are the future of plant protection in India.

1. They can be designed for varied height and capacity.

2. The real problem with it is the availability of insecticide formulations. No formulations are available in the market for aerial applications, except few instances where Locust Warning Organization specifically purchases Malathion/ Fenitrothion 96% ULV for management of Locust in desert areas of India, sometimes supply to Iran for management.

3. Regarding field application, most suitable for long stretch of the agricultural field with uniform cropping system and low or no human settlement.

4. During bad weather conditions (Rain), application by other methods also not possible. however, UAV is the only option as neither humans nor machines enter into the field because of water stagnation or other issues.

UAV help to save time and covered large area, Nevertheless, this method have some challenges, the spray may not be much successful in the dense and tall crop system such as corn as the pesticides could not reach to the lower part of the crop and thus avoid pests found there. moreover, strong wind also make the spray by UAV not effective.

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Please download listen, I believe the lecture will clear all your doubts

Thank you my dear colleagues for your response. I agree use of UAV is in infancy. But India is the first country in the world to utilize drones for spray purpose for control of locust. The pilot test was successful and standard operating procedures have been worked out. Now drones are being explored for use in plant protection in crops through custom hiring mode.

What are the expected challenges before regulatory system for promotion of UAV

Thank you Keerthi, i agree with you UAV will be future of plant protection. But standardization of doses for application through UAV is needed.

For the treatment of large surfaces I do not think that unmanned aerial vehicles is a good solution in plant protection. I would rather think that unmanned robots guided by GPS is a better solution. Here are two 3 main reasons: The ground robots have a higher capacity to transport pesticides, the treatment is made much closer to the crop than the aerial one (avoiding dispersion of the “chemicals” by the wind), thus the treatment by means of robots is more precise. Furthermore the cost of a robots is less costly (purchase and maintenance) than unmanned aerial vehicle.

Thank you Mr. Jean for brilliant points. You are right I agree with you that efficiency will increase if unmanned vehicles are guided by GPS and it could help better in optimizing agriculture operations, increase crop production, and monitor crop growth. There are still many questions to be answered for its use in plant protection. Standardization of doses, spray system, label claim, bioefficacy, drift management etc. needs elaboration.

You are absolutely right. Legal regulation is needed at two steps. One at national security level and another at pesticide regulation.

As many of you pointed out, currently in India UAV’s are not officially permitted and as such there are no pesticide formulations available in India for the same. In order to effectively use the UAV for pest management, it needs to be standardized fundamental aspects like formulation, droplet deposition, drift characteristics and pest suppression in different cropping systems. There has to be some preparedness in terms of pragmatic science-based research on UAV to suit fragmented Indian fields, further to make concrete policies. Thanks

We are still using our knapsack sprayers in Cameroon. However, I think that we are looking for risks and mitigation methods. Unmanned aircrafts will continue to see the light of day

Doses through drone are required to be validated. Moreover sprayer will also differ.

Yes Off course, validationhas to translate into better field efficacy , then only , it will hold promise , despite the fact , it's quite effective in modern day farming ...

You are right it is challenge in fragmented land because of threat of drift of pesticide. But in India, use of drone was successful for controlling locust in non -cropped areas.

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles are increasingly used for mapping, crop surveillance and scouting purpose in agriculture. I seek views on the possible risks involved and expected challenges before regulatory system?

The uncontrolled and inappropriate use of pesticides affect the environment by polluting preserved areas and damaging ecosystems. In the precision agriculture developing spraying processes that are safer and more precise than the use of manned agricultural aircraft.

Experimental results show that the proposed computer-based system approach with autonomous route change metaheuristics provides more precise changes in the UAV’s flight route, with more accurate deposition of the pesticide and less environmental damage. Please see following link for a classic paper.

Source: https://anrg.usc.edu/www/papers/Faical_CEA.pdf

Will the unmanned aerial vehicles for use of spray of pesticides , be amenable to small and marginal farms? It will always be a challenge from drift point of view or cost of one spray, safety to environment and water bodies in villages.

There are several ways in which drones help farmers with agricultural challenges: Soil and field planning: Drones can be used for soil and field analysis for irrigation, fertilisation and planting activities including checking nutrient levels, moisture concentrations, and erosion among others.

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 minimize time and expenses.

Some great responses Dr Malhotra. There is no doubt about the interventiin unmanned aerial vehicles in modern day agricultural operations

There is need to regulate the drone related activities in a manner such that they do not pose any risk to safety or security of people and assets. Therefore it is a big challenge before regulatory authorities. Therefore Governments have put condition of getting certificate of airworthiness.

Drones, once used only by military forces, are now increasingly used by civilians. The uses vary widely, from a hobbyist taking photos to supporting farmers on agricultural lands. As a result, drones are increasingly being used in civilian airspace, which brings new challenges to ensure safety, security and privacy.

Industry needs to provide the drone solutions for a variety of applications more so in terms of endurance and range. Industry is upcoming in India to deliver high-performance, safe and autonomous unmanned systems for enhancing productivity.

The cost and the ease in controlling UAVs for smart farming might play an important role for motivating farmers to use UAVs in farming. There are possibilities that farmers can use any smart phone to operate their respective UAVs along with Bluetooth Smart enabled agricultural sensors in the future. However, certain requirements and challenges need to be addressed before UAVs can be operated for smart agriculture-related applications.

Custom hiring approach will work. It will definitely increase efficiency

Yes you are right. Ultimately an agency has to provide services on hire basis. It will definitely increase the efficiency. In 20 minutes once acre can be sprayed. Licensed custom hiring centers will provide such services. Excellent move.

But battery back up recurrently needed in drones

Many consumer models still feature a max flight time of around 20 minutes. This fallback can be annoying to those wanting to fly longer than a third of an hour. But improved versions have better battery life.

Yes it is in stage of discussion with stakeholders for finalization of SOP

If crop-specific SOP's are established, soon UAV's can be deployed on a commercial basis. Working on PPP mode can soon make it a reality. It's good that recently the government of India has simplified regulations to take up such R&D initiative with Drone rules, 2021.

Drones can be effectively used for spray of crops with pesticides. But the gap exists on the part of pesticide industry who has registration for a particular pesticide for a particular a.i., crop, dose, application procedure and water to be used for spray in a unit area. Now for spray through drone shall need a validation of dose, water, quantity of pesticides etc is needed for application through drones.

In supporting precision farming, drones can do soil health scans, monitor crop health, assist in planning irrigation schedules, apply fertilizers, estimate yield data and provide valuable data for weather analysis. Mission approach can help in promoting such tools.

The technology has a wide range of uses including agriculture, industry, transport, communication, surveillance and environment applications. UAVs are widely used in precision agriculture; from monitoring the crops to crop damage assessment.

According to India’s national aviation authority, the Ministry of Civil Aviation, flying a drone is legal in India, but we recommend being aware of and compliant with the drone regulations listed below before doing so.

India’s Directorate General of Civil Aviation announced the country’s first Civil Aviation Requirements (CAR) for drones on August 27, 2018 to go into effect December 1, 2018. Read the full ruling here (Section 3–Air Transport, Series X, Part I).

Guidelines for use of drone for application of pesticides in India will be available soon.

SOP for use of drone in agriculture in India finalized and released by Govt of India. Application of pesticides, guidelines finalized and in final stage of approval by regulatory authority.

But why guidelines are different why separate SOP and guidelines

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 minimize time and expenses.

Great response Dr Malhotra, some day , such technologies would be new normals of Indian agriculture , remember those initial days of microirrigation and the present rate of adoption...

The main problems is agroforestry small land holding. The big trees grown on side of small farms to grow for fuel wood and small land holding with cheap labor availabilty will push growers to not switch for use of drones for pesticides and fertilizer application.

Good points Anoop ji and Mr. Ibrar. Govt of India has approved the guidelines SOP for use of drones in agriculture for application of pesticides and fertilizers. It will definitely help in optimum utilization of resources and timely operations.

The challenges are that how drones services could be utilized in small and marginal farms where different crop combinations are grown.

@Haseeb, but now service providers are keeping extra battery backup for continuity.

It was a great moment when Honble PM launched 100 farmers drone. It will give boost to startups and further increasing efficiency in Agriculture. Under Make in India concept 2 lakh drones will be manufactured by Garud.

Agricultural UAVs have simplified crop spraying for farmers; as they can cover large expanse of land within a very short time interval. Using sensors, UAVs can automatically adjust their height when spraying across uneven fields. This improves the spraying accuracy and conserves resources. Agricultural UAVs 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. This UAV-based application technology for agrochemicals is considered as a high efficiency alternative to the conventional manual spray operations and a low-cost choice as compared to the classical manned aerial application. However, the technology adoption rate and the designed optimal sprayer suitable for drone application for small scale farm remains at the development stage. Unmanned aircraft systems consist of the aircraft component, sensor payloads and a ground control station. They can be controlled by onboard electronic equipments or via control equipment from the ground.

I feel that unmanned Aerial vehicles means that Drone are the one to do the expected activities of the farmers in the village level.

You would have told directly the use of Drone in Agricultural activities. It has been witnessed by the many Agriculture scientists, professionals, stakeholders that the Drone has innumerable and boundless activities with regard to agriculture.

Mostly the Drones are being used for spraying many kinds of pesticides, fungicides and herbicides etc to cover the wider geographical areas of block, zone or district levels.

It is expected to be used by the many farmers in their farms and the price of the Drones also affordable and user friendly to the farm stakeholders.

Yes its very useful and time and resource conserving UAV help to save time and covered large area, Nevertheless, this method have some challenges, the spray may not be much successful in the dense and tall crop system such as corn as the pesticides could not reach to the lower part of the crop and thus avoid pests found there. Safety is a primary concern when dealing with unmanned aerial vehicles. To avoid mid-air collisions, UAVs must be programmed with “sense and avoid” capabilities that match those of manned aircraft. This means that drones must be able to detect a potential collision and maneuver to safety. Drones help save 95 per cent of the water used for spraying pesticides or insecticides. It is enough if 150-200 ml of pesticide or insecticide is mixed in 8 liters of water. This is since different chemicals have now come up and they need less water for dilution, especially with the emergence of drones. Rather than spraying an entire field, which can lead to a negative environmental impact, agriculture drones for spraying can apply spot treatments of pesticides and fertilizers. This can help reduce agricultural runoff and chemical drift, benefiting nearby crops and the soil.