Study recommends use of Drones to help small farmers

The Dollar Business Bureau A pitch for the deployment of technology in the Agriculture sector was made in a recent report by The Associated Chamber of Commerce & Industry’s (ASSOCHAM) report. The ASSOCHAM-Skymet paper made out a case for the technology intervention in solving the problems of small and marginal farmers. The paper referred to the government’s moves towards providing all-out support with advanced technologies and means which include the use of Drones and Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV). “Drones are quickly moving from the battle field towards the farmer's field and are on the verge of helping growers oversee millions of acres, thereby saving big money for them in the process,” the paper noted. Raising concerns over the existing crop-monitoring methods that are time-consuming, it said the Drones/UAVs can help the user to monitor the crops with high-accurate imagery covering up to hundreds of hectares/acres in a single flight without the cost and hassle of manned services. The imagery provided by the Drones/UAVs is greater than that of the satellite imagery in the cases of cloud cover, it added. With the easy to transport and efficient data providing advantages, this technology will definitely play a key role in boosting yields, cutting costs and driving the business forward. The paper further informed that in times to come, the sensor technologies and the satellite imagery techniques would help the government in finding appropriate solutions for the farmers. The technology advancements in the sector would help the farmers in planning crops months in advance, keeping in view the adverse climatic changes, and further help them in pests and disease forecasting to avoid crop failure, it noted. In this regard, the government was urged to invest in Science & Technology focused on agriculture, in order to enable farmer to achieve successful crops and make the farming free from the grip of the money lenders. The paper noted that the improved farm sector data will help banks and insurance companies to target credit much more effectively and when the financials have a clear measure of risk, the interest rates or premiums decline. With a spread of technology, a combination of weather forecasts, agri-advisories and financial products could be witnessed, which would further the agriculture practices and also let the farmers go online for getting credit and insurance, selling their products, among others, it added.    

This article was published on April 28, 2015 – 2:50 pm IST.