As a more cost effective instrument, agricultural drones have turn out to be a brand new favourite of Vietnamese farmers who develop rice.
Drones can spray pesticides, unfold fertilisers and sow seeds straight by utilizing a cell phone to function them.
Their versatile purposes and full automation are reshaping how rice is farmed, serving to growers cut back labour prices, minimize down using agricultural inputs and enhance yields.
Le Thanh Nguyen, a 62 year-old farmer who was born and raised in Tam Nong District of Dong Thap Province within the Mekong Delta bordering Cambodia, now works his seven hectares of rice with drones made by agricultural drone specialists, XAG.
Though Mr Nguyen has been farming in a conventional means for over 40 years since he was 15 years outdated, he’s very a lot open to the brand new know-how.
He is without doubt one of the earliest farmers to undertake agricultural drones in rice manufacturing and is a devoted follower of drone options for farming.
Vietnam is the world’s second largest rice exporter with 6.24 million tons exported in 2021, making nice progress on productiveness and output of late.
Nonetheless, urbanisation and the rising value of fertilisers continues to heap strain on farmers as they struggle to deal with a scarcity of labour and growing manufacturing prices.
In consequence, some rice growers have determined to chop the dimensions of their rice farming practices.
Like many others, Mr Nguyen used to have difficulties hiring employees for handbook jobs.
Throughout the busy rice season, farm employees had been required to work within the early morning to sow seedlings, however typically they arrived within the late afternoon.
By that point, the seeds had germinated, and the shoots had been simply damaged throughout spreading and, due to this fact, resulted in a lack of yield.
Even when employees did come on time, Mr Nguyen nonetheless wasn’t happy with the results of seeding by hand or by spreader, they had been removed from exact and didn’t permit best plant density.
Examples like this have urged farmers like Mr Nguyen to seek out options, of which using drones has been one.
In 2021, when he first discovered concerning the agricultural drone throughout a household journey, Mr Nguyen determined to collect extra details about the machine.
After XAG’s native associate DigiDrone gave Mr Nguyen a full introduction to and trial of the drone’s capabilities, Mr Nguyen determined to make use of a drone on his farm.
Within the Mekong Delta, rice is planted and harvested thrice a 12 months.
Historically, rice farming depends on pesticides at totally different phases to make sure rice is protected against pests and illnesses, whereas fertiliser and nutrient options in excessive quantities are required to spice up crop progress.
Rice rising requires a substantial funding in not solely agricultural supplies, but additionally handbook labour.
Mr Nguyen now makes use of the XAG drone for crop spraying, spreading fertiliser and seeding, which seems to be extra exact and higher at distributing it on crops and in the end resulting in larger rice yields.
“The drone eases the burden and drastically improves effectivity,” says Mr Nguyen. “Up to now, I needed to pay 4 employees to hold and unfold one ton of fertiliser on my area from 6am to 2pm, and so they had been exhausted because of this.
“Now with the newest XAG P100 agricultural drone, fertilising one ton solely takes an hour to complete with even spreading outcomes,” he says.
Along with effectivity, what drove Mr Nguyen to undertake drone know-how is the discount in prices. He defined that ordering drone providers from the native workforce affords extra worth for cash than hiring employees. This not solely helps him save appreciable on the price of handbook labor, together with wages, meal allowances and transportation. It additionally drastically reduces the amount of crop inputs, corresponding to seeds.
“For one hectare of rice, it solely takes 120kg of seed to sow by drone, however 150kg to 200kg is normally wanted for a similar yield.
“As well as, spreading by hand or by conventional equipment is more likely to end in crop injury and a wastage of seeds, resulting in a loss in yield and earnings,” says Mr Nguyen.
As agricultural drones from XAG acquire extra consideration in Vietnam, the variety of farmers utilizing drones for autonomous operations is growing.
Their effectivity, precision, and cost-saving know-how, together with the standard of the service, will probably be key for drones to achieve higher recognition in rural areas in Vietnam.
