Farmers keen on hiring 'affordable' Kisan drones

Farmers are keen to use 'kisan drones' to spray pesticides and nutrients on their crops provided they are available on rent at an affordable rate, some farmer organisations told ET.

"Usage of Kisan drones will reduce the dependence on farm labour," said Yashwanth Chidipothu, national spokesperson of Federation of All India Farmers' Association (Faifa). "However, farmers cannot buy drones on their own. They can hire them."

The government can put in place some agencies that can buy the drones and rent them to farmers at a rate of up to ₹350 for spraying insecticides and fertilisers in an acre of land, he told ET.

Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman in her budget speech on Tuesday had said the Centre will promote Kisan drones to help farmers assess crops, digitise land records as well as spray insecticides and nutrients.

"We are keen to use drones for spraying manures and keeping our crop pest-free," Chidipothu said. "Sometimes we do not get farm labourers to do the same."

Farmers from the soyabean belt of Madhya Pradesh said that during the pandemic they had faced problem in spraying fertilisers and insecticides in the fields.