Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): Madhya Pradesh is yet to adopt drone technology in a big way in the agriculture sector. Drones, however, are being used for surveillance, crowd management, and land survey in the state.
Also, Madhya Pradesh has emerged as a major training centre for the manpower employed in the drone industry.
Experts told Free Press on the sidelines of the inaugural-day of the two-day Drone Tech Workshop & Expo at the MP Council of Science and Technology (MPCST) on Thursday that lack of awareness, reluctance to invest money and lack of facilities for repairing and maintaining drones are the key reasons behind drones not becoming popular among the farming community in the state.
MD, Onprice Infotech Pvt Limited, Ramnath Narhete said that the use of drones for spraying insecticides or pesticides or for seeding is yet to become popular among the farmers in the state.
“There are practical difficulties. Trees, overhead electricity wires and other similar obstructions in fields make operation of drones difficult. Moreover, if the drones develop some problem, mechanics to repair them are not available,” he said.
Sumit Gautam, an assistant professor from IIT, Indore, said that the high cost of drones is a disincentive. “A farmer will think ten times before investing lakhs on a farm drone when he can get spraying done for a few thousand rupees,” he said. The technology, however, is evolving and in a few years from now the use of drones in farms will increase, he added.
Drones are not popular in the farm sector in the state but they are being used for land mapping, crowd management and surveillance, said Pankaj Bhojwani from Beyond Gravity, adding that “MP has emerged as a key hub for training of manpower required in the drone industry. Last year, at least 8,000 persons were trained in the state.”
