Drones catch Karnal farmers' fancy, spray on crops made easy

Parveen Arora

Karnal, January 9

Farmers in the district are switching over to technology to effectively spray water-soluble fertilisers and pesticides on crops. At least 15-20 farmers approach officials of Maharana Pratap Horticulture University (MHU) here every day with queries on the use of drones and requests for a demonstration.

The officials have so far given demonstrations on 400 acres of land to around 150 farmers. “Fertilisers and pesticides can be evenly sprayed on crops with drones. Besides being a cost-effective process, it helps save time,” said Surinder Lather, a progressive farmer.

Vijay Kapoor, another farmer, said spraying with drones was effective even on tall crops like sugarcane and paddy.

The university authorities said they were setting up a centre at its Anjanthali farm to provide training on the use of drones.

Dr Satyender Yadav, Associate Director (Extension Service), MHU, said, “A drone uses just about 10 litres of water per acre as compared to around 160 litres per acre manually. It finishes spraying on one acre in 6-8 minutes as against two-three hours per person. MHU is the first public university in the state to impart drone training and provide licences to operate these.”