Govt to distribute drones to FPOs with 80% subsidy

Vijayawada: In a move to take technology to the agriculture fields, state govt has decided to grant drones to farmers producers organisations (FPOs). The drones will be distributed to the FPOs with a massive 80% subsidy. AP is reportedly the first state in the country to utilise drones in agriculture with state's subsidy.

The State has already identified progressive FPOs across the state and provided training to select farmers to operate the drones. It will initially procure about 900 drones in the first phase and launch the operations from the coming kharif season. The FPOs will manage the drones for spraying of pesticides and fertilisers as per the requisition of the local farmers. The usage of drones is expected to reduce the cost of manual labour drastically and help bring down the cultivation cost.

According to initial experiments, spraying of pesticide or fertiliser in one acre of land could be completed in just seven minutes. At this rate, the FPO could cover about five acres per hour and at least 40-50 acres per day. The FPO could manage the entire village's requirement within a fortnight and deploy the drone to neighbouring village, depending on the requirement. FPO will collect 350 per acres as operational cost while the farmers are reportedly spending close to 1,000 per acre on manual labour.

"We are acquiring the most advanced drone at a cost of 9.80 lakh. While govt will take a burden of 8 lakh as subsidy, the FPO will have to share the remaining 1.8 lakh cost," said agriculture minister K Atchannaidu.

He said that the cost of drones as well as its maintenance will come down if the usage is increased in the coming days. He said that previous YSRCP govt had completely crippled the modernisation of agriculture department by not spending a single rupee. He said that chief minister Chandrababu Naidu had also directed them to revive the subsidies to the horticulture crops to encourage the farmers. He said that govt would grant 90% subsidy on the utilities including drip, pipes, shade-net and other tools for horticulture with 90% subsidy.

"We will procure more drones and help farmers to switch to the new technology by next year after studying the results of the pilot projects. We are hopeful that the farmers would definitely make use of the technology without any difficulty," said Atchnnaidu.

He said that cutting down the cost of cultivation is the only way to make agriculture profitable. He said that encouraging the farmers to move to new technologies would bring down the cost of cultivation, which would help them make reasonable profits.

GFX

900 FPOs To Handle Ops

*Drone would spray pesticides in an acre of land within seven minutes

*It would take at least two hours to cover one year in manual basis

*Govt selected about 900 Farmers Producers Organisations (FPOs) to handle drone operations across state

*Govt will distribute drone with 80% subsidy while the FPO had to take remaining cost

*State has advised bankers to extend their support to FPOs in purchase of drones

*Banks will either grant the amount as loan or sponsor the amount under CSR