The Drone Federation of India has welcomed the Union agriculture ministry’s move notifying funding guidelines for the purchase and hiring of agriculture drones to promote their use. It said drone technology can bring significant accuracy and efficiency in how farmers manage their crops.
The guidelines will enable funding support to a wide range of agriculture institutions, custom hiring centres, agri-entrepreneurs, and other stakeholders for purchasing drones or hiring their services.
“We welcome this notification wholeheartedly and would like to thank the Hon’ble Prime Minister and the ministry of agriculture for this bold vision which shall make drones accessible to the common man of India and boost domestic drone manufacturing in a big way,” said Drone Federation of India president Smit Shah
“…a standard agriculture drone model costs between Rs. 8-10 lakhs…this step has made the purchase of agricultural drones nearly free for leading agri-research and agri-training institutions.” Shah added these institutes in turn shall promote agri-drone use. Shah said the subsidised purchase of agri-drones will make them affordable, subsequently leading to their rapid adoption.
Source: Hindustan Times
