Ichha Sharma, Pune
In order to incorporate drone technology into agriculture, the Indian Farmers Fertilizer Cooperative (IFFCO) has established a cooperation with Drone Destination. With this partnership, IFFCO’s Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samridhi Kendras (PMKSKs) will offer Agriculture Drone Spray services all across India.
Agri-spraying services would be provided by Drone Destination at 50 PMKSKs in nine states as per the agreement of understanding (MOU). The business will work with farmers to spray crops with IFFCO Nano Urea, Nano DAP, and other fertilizers using drones.
Yogendra Kumar, Managing Director of IFFCO, declared his support for Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision of employing technology to benefit farmers. According to Kumar, the use of drones would speed the adoption of IFFCO’s latest agricultural solutions, Nano Urea and Nano DAP. He emphasised how groundbreaking these goods are. Chirag Sharma, CEO of Drone Destination, expressed excitement about the relationship with IFFCO. The collaboration aims to supply farmers with comprehensive Kisan drone spraying services. Sharma went on to say that IFFCO’s PMKSKs will use drones and qualified pilots for this purpose.
“The technical specifications of agri-drones being procured by IFFCO for spray of nano fertilizers are in accordance with the industry standards,” IFFCO said.
In line with their collaboration, IFFCO and Drone Destination have opened a DGCA-approved Drone Pilot Training Centre at the IFFCO facility in Phulpur. Sharma went on to explain plans to build a large network of Drone Hubs that would provide recognised training and a variety of drone services.
According to the statement, one agricultural drone should be able to spray IFFCO nano fertilizers and bio-stimulants such as Sagarika, Agrochemicals, and others on 20 acres each day. IFFCO will also buy 2,500 electric three-wheelers (loading type) to transfer the drone, nano fertilizers, and other supplies to farmers’ fields.
According to the cooperative, these electric 3-wheelers are environmentally benign. They also support the recently introduced PM-PRANAM initiative, which aims to limit the use of chemical fertilizers and increase the use of alternative fertilizers. IFFCO has started a statewide campaign whereby 5,000 small-scale farmers will be given training for using drones to spray nano fertilizers in order to train individuals to use these devices in communities.