Sahakar Se Samriddhi: 2,500 Kisan Drones To Be Procured By IFFCO For Sustainable Agriculture

IFFCO has launched a nationwide campaign to procure 2,500 Kisan Drones. It is been seen as a step towards sustainable agriculture and for upliftment of the rural economy

In line with the vision of Prime Minister's Sahkar Se Samriddhi, Indian Farmers Fertilizer Cooperative Limited (IFFCO) has embarked on a significant nationwide campaign to acquire 2,500 'Kisan Drones.' These drones will serve as cutting-edge spray solutions for IFFCO's revolutionary products, Nano Urea and Nano DAP. The initiative not only aligns with the goal of sustainable agriculture but also promotes the holistic development of cooperatives and upliftment of the rural economy, as reported by news agency ANI.

IFFCO Managing Director & CEO US Awasthi tweeted, "IFFCO forays into Agri-Drones through “IFFCO Kisan Drone"." He said this is the "Biggest Smart Agri-Solutions in India by procuring 2500 agri drones as Spray Solutions for Nano Urea and Nano DAP (Di-ammonium Phosphate)".

The IFFCO, in collaboration with WOW Go Green, had in 2021 organised a 10-day workshop on the use of agricultural drones. Under the programme, farmers were trained to use drones for the spraying fertilizers and insecticides over the crops.

Drones can significantly help farmers by reducing labour pressure on agricultural operations such as applying fertilisers, while enhancing the crop coverage per day. This development into the agriculture sector will save significant time. Farmers can then use the time saved to carry out other activities. With the help of such drones, they will also be able to respond quickly to biotic challenges.

DRONAI is an integrated program that promotes the foliar application of Nano fertilizers and other agrochemicals by combining Drone, Nano, Artificial Intelligence and mobile technologies. Using this platform will save time, and avoid drudgery and health issues associated with the manual spraying of agricultural chemicals, as reported by ANI.

The report said farmers can access these advanced technologies through their mobile App. This is expected to make spraying efficient, cost-effective and safe. While spraying, the Artificial intelligence (AI) based software can detect crop growth and health and guides the farmers towards Smart farming.

All the mandatory protocols related to drones, their transport vehicle and safe flying are inbuilt into this process and coordinated by farmer friendly mobile App, the report said in May this year.

A unique electric tri-wheeler has been specially designed for the safe transport of drones to farmers' fields. An integrated software platform that can run under any mobile would be available for farmers that would connect all users (drone operator, farmer, field officer and central control unit).

This would help to monitor the drones on a dynamic basis and monitor the spray efficiency (acre/day) remotely. Besides, the app would help the farmers to book spray well in advance comfortably just by a click in the app.