Indian farming practices are changing technologically at a speed not seen before in India’s history. High input costs, labour shortages, and the need for higher yields lead to more farmers looking to new and innovative ways to farm.
Aerial technology is particularly revolutionizing farming practices now that India has gone from being predominantly a ground-based farming country to an aerial farming country.
The shift towards smart agriculture
Most traditional forms of agriculture use agricultural labour, have inconsistent application from both a labour and technical accuracy perspective, and typically take a long time to carry out. As farmland becomes larger and efficiency more important to farmers, the precision and speed of farming on an industrial level becomes critical.
Aerial technology like agriculture drones allows farmers to cover a lot more land at a much quicker rate than ever before and allows them to have a much more uniform application of ingredients (e.g., insecticides, herbicides, etc.) over the same area. In addition, it will significantly reduce the use of resources per unit of improvement and help to improve the productivity and output of the farm overall.
While the benefits of adopting aerial technology in farming are numerous, it is a fundamental shift towards more sustainable, accurate, and productive farm operations over time.
Farming with Precision with the Help of Technology
Innovation is at the heart of all work where aerial technology is going to lead the way by allowing farmers to farm by using data to inform their decisions. Drones that are used in agriculture these days can fly very precisely thanks to being equipped with things like GPS technology, intelligent flight planning and drone technology that allows farmers to spray crops in an accurate manner thus leaving very little wastage when applying chemicals and fertilizer as well as optimally applying those products to produce the maximum yield possible per acre of land.
With more and more integration of AI technologies used for things like crop analytics, mapping the health of soil, and predicting yields; this will create new opportunities providing farmers with the ability to identify issues impacting their crops earlier, responding to infestations faster, and limiting the loss of crops.
As time goes on; precision farming will not just be a concept considered by elite farmers; but, will become an everyday practice of all growers.
Government Support and Policy to Enhance Adoption.
The Indian regulatory environment has also become very supportive of the use of drones in agriculture. Many programs offered by the government as well as financial support and policy reforms provided to encourage drone-use by agri-entrepreneurs are helping.
With more and more domestic products being produced, we are moving away from importing products from outside of India. We see that there is a strong ecosystem of drone manufactures in India, service providers, and trained professionals working with farmers making workers in rural and semi-urban locations easier and more affordable to access.
The focus of the federal and state governments is not only on the introduction of new technologies, and encouraging growers to use those technologies but also, building a drone industry in India that will meet the needs of the areal agricultural industries.
Chances for Rural Entrepreneurs
Drone technology isn’t just changing farming but also creating new business possibilities. Agri-drone services, drone dealership networks, training centres, and drone maintenance hubs are popping up everywhere, across the United States.
For instance, young entrepreneurs are discovering new opportunities to launch and operate drone companies, while existing agri-input dealers are adding drone services into their offerings. As more people utilize drones, the need for local service, support, and technical expertise will grow.
This establishes a nice foundation for increasing rural entrepreneur success.
The Next 10 Years
Aerial technology is expected to become mainstream in agriculture in the next 10 years. The faster, better, and more efficient ways to scale and operate businesses will make drones a requirement rather than a choice.
Aerial solutions will be part of the success story from small individual farms all the way through to large agricultural operations and clusters. The future of agriculture in India will be intelligent, effective, and driven by technology. And over time, it will all be delivered from the sky.
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