Drone Technology in Agriculture: Economic and Environment Implications of Drone Spraying

CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION
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Drone technology in Agriculture: Economic and environment implications
of Drone spraying
CHAPTER 1
Introduction
From the Malthusian theory of population, the world population has grown
geometrically and food production grew in an arithmetic manner. As the world's population
expands, so does food demand. By 2050, the global population will reach 9.7 billion people,
placing immense pressure on food production systems to produce more food. Ensuring food
security for all requires increasing agricultural productivity while simultaneously addressing
issues such as land degradation, water scarcity, and climate change. Sustainable
intensification, through the adoption of innovative farming practices and technologies,
promises to meet food demand while minimizing negative environmental impacts. There are
various innovations in agricultural technologies in the process from field preparation to post-
harvest management. These machines help produce more efficiently in both quality and
quantity. The list of improved technological implements in agriculture for transportation
includes tractors, spraying including tractor-attached sprayers, power sprayers, drones plus
the precise application of water and nutrient management in the field including soil moisture
sensors, and colour detectors using drones. Combination harvester in rice farming, thresher,
groundnut decorticator, and other fruit collectors. Storage of post-harvest products in state
and central warehouses combined with cold storage.
The application of drone in agriculture is one of the most important innovations as
benefitted in many other fields. From this point, we can look at the world's drone usage
status. They are still in their infancy stage of mass adoption and use. However, drones have
already broken through rigid traditional barriers in industries otherwise impenetrable to
similar technological innovations. Over the past few years, drones have become increasingly
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important to businesses and governmental organizations. They have managed to make a
significant impact on areas where certain industries were stagnant or lagging behind. From
quick deliveries at rush hour to scanning an unreachable military base, drones are proving to
be highly beneficial in places where a man cannot reach or cannot perform in a timely and
efficient manner.
Increasing work efficiency and productivity, decreasing workload and production
costs, improving accuracy, refining service and customer relations, and resolving security
issues on a vast scale are a few of the top uses drones offer industries globally. Drone
technology adoption across industries leapt from the fad stage to the mega-trend stage
quickly as more and more businesses realized its potential, scope, and global reach.
Whether drones are controlled by a remote or accessed via a smartphone app, they
can reach the most remote areas with arguably no manpower needed. They require the least
amount of effort, time, and energy. Drones have been around for more than two decades, but
their roots date back to World War I when both the U.S. and France worked on developing
automatic, unmanned airplanes. But the last few years have been significant in terms of drone
adoption, usage expansion across industries, and global awareness.
What is Drone?
Agriculture drones are spray drone-enhanced unmanned aerial vehicles designed to
optimize agriculture operational efficiency, crop production, and monitoring crop growth. Or
The abbreviation of DRONE is Dynamic Remotely Operated Navigation Equipment. A UAV
is also defined as a drone without any onboard pilot and operates autonomously or with the
help of a flight controller operated from the ground station. The degree of freedom in UAV is
varied for executing the special functions like stabilization and altitude lock, Inertial
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Measurement Unit (IMU), Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) is used for locking the
position in mid-air. These additional components and sensors will make the UAV more
autonomous and succeed in missions like path planning, obstacle avoidance, and autonomous
take-off and landing. (Ahmed, F., Mohanta, J.C., Keshari, A. et al. Recent Advances in
Unmanned Aerial Vehicles: A Review. Arab J Sci Eng)
Drones have been used in agriculture since the early 2000s but it wasn’t until the 2010s that
the technology became widespread enough for farmers to employ it. Further, drone sensors
and digital imaging capabilities are intended to offer farmers a richer picture of their fields.
Furthermore, sudden climate changes globally are creating new layers of complexity in the
agriculture industry. This boosts the need for advanced solutions such as agriculture drones to
improve crop yield and firm efficiency. Moreover, the aerial view provided by drone farming
can reveal various issues such as soil variation, irrigation problems, and pest and disease
infestations and act as a set of instructions used in agriculture to conduct a crop survey to
quickly identify problems.
The global supply chain is at an all-time high, and commodity prices are at an all-time
low because of rising demand for food production and consumption, propelling the need for a
modern farming solution across the agriculture industry globally. Further, the use of drones
has revolutionized the agriculture industry by offering enhanced efficiency, cost-savings, and
profitability. In addition, the global agriculture drone market is still in its nascent stage;
however, breakthroughs in drone technology are expected to fuel agriculture drone
market growth in the coming years.
The agriculture drone market share is expected to grow during the forecast period.
This is owing to a rise in venture funding for drone deployment in the agriculture industry
globally. Furthermore, the surge in precision farming solutions adoption drives the growth of
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the market during the forecast period. Moreover, the surge in demand for a reduction in
human error costs is expected to propel the agriculture drones market analysis. Countries like
Israel even use them to pluck apples from farms. Two different drones fly from two sides,
one with a cart and the other to identify apples and pluck them from the tree and put them in
the basket. Such tasks can be tedious, time-consuming and expensive if done manually. Fruit
plucking drones need artificial intelligence (AI) to identify the condition of the fruit and pick
only the ripe ones.
In India, drones are being used to access crop damage, spray pesticides and fertilisers
and tackle locust onslaughts. Depending on the purpose, a drone can be mounted with either a
spraying mechanism along with a container or sensors for mapping crops. Based on the size
and configuration of the drone, an agricultural drone can cost anything between Rs 1 lakh to
Rs 10 lakh. The Indian government is now providing subsidies to various agricultural
organisations and up to 90 per cent loans on the subsidised amount for farmers looking to
procure them.
The first drone that was designed in India was the Nishant. This drone was developed
by India’s Defence Research and Development Organisation. Looking into the advantages of
drone technologies in agriculture and farmers welfare has releases the standard operating
procedure which provide concise instruction for effective and safe operation of drone for
pesticide and nutrient application. The central insecticide board and registration committee
has prescribed the guidelines for registration requirement of pesticide for drone application.
In order to promote the use of drone technology in agriculture the following provisions have
been made under the guidelines of sub-mission on agricultural mechanization being
implemented by DA&FW.
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These are some of the leading manufactures of the drone in India like Aero360, Skylark
Drones, ideaforge, Quidich Innovation labs, DJI, Asteria Aerospace, Om UAV Systems,
Chennai Microelectronics, Tech Eagle, Skyquad. These industries produce some of the models
as follow S110A, MARK300, INSIGHT, ALIGN T-REX, A200, EVO, VARGUS, FIMI,
BETA, HX100, DRISHITI, DD-100, GURU, PUSHPAK, SPIDEX, HCP, BLADE, NETRA,
SIGMA and so on. Which supports all the aspects that a drone can function in Drone.
Experts feel that in India drones’ application in agriculture enhanced the collective
action in efficient performance of different farm operation particularly the foliar application of
fertilizers and plant protection measures. UMV technology is very useful especially in the
developed countries, who use aircraft for a variety of tasks. “For the average Indian farmer, a
drone will convert the dream of being able to use an aircraft for farming into an affordable
service,” said Girish Linganna, aerospace and defence expert and managing director, ADD
Engineering India. Experts believe that AI is a strong suit for the Indian drone ecosystem and
we must leverage our expertise in designing sophisticated systems that use drones to either
minimise dependence on labour or fast-track the process.
One AI application is seed pod planting, where AI can guide a drone to automatically
shoot pods containing seeds and plant nutrients into a prepared soil patch. With more
sophisticated AI, drones can detect using thermal, multi-spectral or hyper-spectral sensors
where there are moisture deficits and only irrigate those areas with precision. If one adds a
LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging), sensor to the drone, with AI, a farmer will be able to
estimate timber or sugarcane production. Some researchers are even working on AI-enabled
software to perform faster soil analysis. This technology will create accurate 3D maps that can
be used for planting planning, irrigation, estimating nitrogen levels and hence, even help the
farmers plan adequate fertiliser inputs for optimal growth of crops. With the research being
undertaken, an Indian farmer of the future can be envisioned using tablets while swarms of
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drones will buzz about. The future Indian farmer will be able to have plenty of insights that will
aid them in deciding which crop to grow, its quantity, the number of fertilisers and pesticides,
and much more. AI can change the face of agriculture in India.
Though experts believe that one of the most popular use cases for drones in
agriculture has been spraying various chemicals like fertilisers and pesticides, as per Ramesh
Kestur, a specialist in AI and agricultural drones, this use is replete with issues. “The key
problem is the downwash of chemicals. Drone-aided dispensation of chemicals is heavily
influenced by flight height. Downwash is the action of changing the direction of air diverted
by the drone aerodynamics during the process of lifting,” said Kestur.
Drones help save 95 per cent of the water used for spraying pesticides or insecticides.
It is enough if 150-200 ml of pesticide or insecticide is mixed in 8 Liters of water. This is
since different chemicals have now come up and they need less water for dilution, especially
with the emergence of drones. Experts say since landholdings are small in India, it would be
easy to monitor the functioning of drones, be it spraying fertilizers, insecticides or pesticides.
The current state of India’s farmers and commercial drone solutions pose particular
challenges to fully utilising drones in agriculture. According to a published report by the
Indian Council of Agricultural Research’s (ICAR) National Institute of Abiotic Stress
Management, India faces challenges due to weather dependency on drones, lack of proper
internet connectivity across our arable farms, lack of knowledge and skill of the end users,
and the potential for misuse. The report published in 2020 also spoke on the issues posed by
the national laws regarding using drones for specific uses.
The Indian arm of the Swiss-based firm launched a drone yatra to cover 10,000 km
across 13 States from Mancher near Pune in Maharashtra. Experts are of the opinion that
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drones help the Indian agriculture sector make a huge leap. A few firms such as Unnati, an
agriculture tech start-up platform, have launched drone services. The firm plans to spray
20,000 acres of land by the end of 2022 and increase drones’ spray capacity by 4 times next
year. The Indian Government is popularizing the use of drones by offering various financial
assistance to purchase drones for demonstrations. Drone purchases by custom hiring centres
(CHCs) are given 40 percent assistance. The Centre is providing ₹6,000 per hectare as a
contingency fund to farmers to hire drones from CHCs.
Safety is often a primary concern for agribusiness, and agriculture drones have the
potential to help improve this in critical ways. For example, if a tract of agricultural land is
potentially dangerous or difficult to travel, drones can be used to map the area rather than
send workers or surveyors. Additionally, after a storm, agribusiness owners can use drones to
assess wind, fire or hail damage first, protecting worker safety and helping to speed up the
claim process.
The same is true for monitoring livestock. For example, if you suspect some of your
livestock is sick or injured, drones can help you track their movement and potentially spot
lethargic animals who may need help.14 Drones equipped with thermal imagery can be used
to check livestock temperatures, which can indicate illness or infection within the herd.
Apart from agriculture, drone plays an important improvement in the following
sectors like the construction industry has also embraced the advantages of drones. Surveying
vast construction sites can be time-consuming and labour-intensive, but drones equipped with
lidar sensors can swiftly capture detailed 3D models of the terrain, assisting in the planning
and design phases. Additionally, drones equipped with cameras can monitor construction
progress, assess safety protocols, and even perform inspections of hard-to-reach areas such as
rooftops or bridges, enhancing efficiency and reducing risks.
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In the realm of logistics and delivery, drones offer the potential for faster and more
cost-effective transportation. Companies like Amazon and UPS are exploring the use of
drones for last-mile delivery, allowing packages to reach their destinations quicker, especially
in remote areas or during emergencies. With advancements in payload capacity and battery
life, drones can carry small packages while reducing traffic congestion and carbon emissions
associated with traditional delivery methods.
Emergency response and disaster management can benefit greatly from drone
technology. During natural disasters or hazardous situations, drones can provide critical
situational awareness by capturing aerial footage and thermal imaging. This data aids
emergency responders in search and rescue operations, damage assessment, and identifying
areas that require immediate attention. Drones can access hazardous environments that are
difficult or dangerous for humans, contributing to faster response times and potentially saving
lives.
Furthermore, drones have found applications in the entertainment industry, enabling
captivating aerial photography and cinematography. With their agility and ability to capture
unique perspectives, drones have become popular tools for filmmakers, photographers, and
content creators. They can capture breath-taking aerial shots, chase scenes, or even create
immersive experiences in virtual reality.
From the cumulative application of drone across the world and in the India on the
field of agriculture it also started its advent in the part of Tamil Nādu agriculture. This study
is to find the cost-effective benefit that the farmers have through the practice of drone
spraying over the traditional or conventional method of spraying in the field. And also, to
find the view of the farmers in using this modern technology plus their availability and
accessibility to this drone technology. This study is carried out in some places in Tamil Nadu
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and various type of cropping system and number of crops. Through this analysis we can able
to state the current status and future needs to improve the usage of drones among the small
and marginal farmers of Tamil Nadu.
Objectives of the studies
 To access the drone technology applications in agriculture.
 To study the economics of drone-based spraying of agricultural inputs in different
crops.
 To explore the potential of drone usage in agriculture on production and marketing
activities
Limitation of the studies
This type of study demands investigation from wider population from large scale area.
But being the student researcher investigation was carried out with limited time and limited
area plus of financial constraints. Hence, we have done personal calls to farmers and obtained
information.
However, sincere efforts are made to collect the relevant information through reviews and
with the officials from various non-governmental organisation, farmer producer organisation
and also from the farmers themselves in the study area to keep this study as objective as
possible by deliberately following all principles of scientific research. This study would
provide better insight into the different aspects of the drone technologies in agriculture fields.
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ORGANIZATION OF THE STUDY:
The study is organized under the following six chapters.
CHAPTER 1 Introduction Explain the importance of the topic,
objectives, scope and limitation of the
study.
CHAPTER 2 Review of Literature Deals with the review of relevant
literature in line with the objectives of the
study.
CHAPTER 3 Research methodology Describes the research design, the study
area, measurement of independent and
dependent variable, method of data
collection and statistical tools used.
CHAPTER 4 Description of study area Describes the general aspects of the
sample area including cropping pattern,
labour availability
CHAPTER 5 Findings and discussions Discussion of the result of the study to
draw specific interferences.
CHAPTER 6 Summary and conclusion Briefly summarizes the work done and
salient findings, explain the implication
based on the results of the study.
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CHAPTER 2
REVIEW OF LITERATURE
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CHAPTER 2
Review of Literature
A literature review is not an annotated bibliography in which you summarize briefly each
article that you have reviewed. While a summary of what you have read is contained within
the literature review, it goes well beyond merely summarizing professional literature. It
focusses on a specific topic of interest and includes a critical analysis of the relationship
among different works and relating this research to your work. It may be written as a
standalone paper or to provide a theoretical framework and rationale for a research study.
(Galvan et al., 2008)
Agriculture:
Agriculture can be defined as the art and science of cultivating soil, growing crops, and
raising livestock that human beings have practiced for a long time to obtain food for their
survival (Harris and Fuller et al., 2014). It has evolved from Agriculture 1.0 (traditional) to
Agriculture 4.0 (new age) and is in a continuous process to evolve in the future. Agriculture
4.0 uses current emerging technologies such as remote sensing, artificial intelligence, the
internet of things, cloud computing, computer vision, and several more (Zhai et al., 2020).
Need of Technologies in Agriculture:
Many Asian countries are at a developing stage, and they are confronting with the issue of
a high populace and their agrarian efficiency is much lower when compared with
technologically advanced nations. India is facing a similar issue. This is due to its low-level
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agriculture technology, lesser power availability, and unskilled farmers, etc. Almost 73% of
the Indian population is dependent on the agriculture sector directly or indirectly. Indian
farming is still being done in a conventional manner. Farmers are using conventional
techniques for seed planting, composts and pesticides application, etc., The traditional
techniques used for pesticides and fertilizer spraying require more time and are less effective,
thus there is a need for technological advancement in this segment (Kamilaris et al., 2018)
For smart farming and Precision Agriculture (PA), aerial remote sensing is considered to
be one of the most important technologies. Aerial remote sensing, with the help of drones,
utilizes the images of different wavelengths and measures the vegetation indices to recognize
the several conditions of crops. In the past decades, manned aircraft or satellites were used
for capturing desired images that were utilized for precision agriculture. Capturing images by
using manned aircraft is a very costly affair and the problem with satellite images is that
image spatial resolution is not as good as desired in most conditions. Moreover, the
availability and quality of images depend upon the weather conditions. An advancement in
Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) technologies and reduction weight of payload devices has
shifted the remote sensing of crops through this technology. This technology is less
expensive, time-saving, and captures high-resolution images in a non-destructive way. (Bilani
et al., 2018)
With the world’s population projected to reach 9 billion people by 2050, experts expect
agricultural consumption to increase by nearly 70 percent over the same time period.
Conventional agriculture systems (CAS), higher doses of fertilizers, pesticides and other
agrochemicals, Climate change and environmental pollution are the major global issues of the
current era and severely impacting agricultural productivity. More than 815 million people
are chronically hungry and 64 percent of the chronically hungry in Asia. (FAO 2018).
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Agriculture represents the primary food source of the world and it has been facing severe
challenges due to the increasing demand for food products, food safety, and security concerns
as well as calls for environmental protection, water preservation, and sustainability (Inoue,
2018)
Similarly, arable land is limited, and the number of farmers is decreasing worldwide.
These challenges accentuate the need for innovative and sustainable farming solutions (Elijah
et al., 2018).
Incorporating novel technologies has been identified as a promising solution to address
these challenges. Smart farming and precision agriculture (Feng et al., 2019, Khanna and
Kaur, 2019) have emerged as a result of such debates.
In addition to the above-mentioned technologies, remote sensing has been considered a
technological tool with high potential to improve smart and precision agriculture. Satellites,
human-crewed aircraft, and drones are popular remote-sensing technologies (Tsouros et al.,
2019).
Remote sensing can be defined as the process of detecting and monitoring the physical
characteristics of an area; in agriculture, the reflected and emitted radiation of a field or crop
is measured at a distance without touching it by using various remote sensing platforms
(NASA, 2020).
Drone:
Puri et al., 2017 pointed out that Drones are considered to be the greatest invention of
mankind. It can be extensively used in many areas such as defence, industry and agriculture.
At this time, almost 85% of drone technology is largely utilized by military and rest 15% by
civilians for various applications. However, with certain restrictions, drones are also
prohibited in some countries like India to fly over public places and government buildings.
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Drones, popularly known as Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), Unmanned Aircraft
Systems (UAS), and remotely piloted aircraft, are of great importance as they have multiple
advantages in comparison with other remote-sensing technologies. For example, drones can
deliver high-quality and high-resolution images on cloudy days (Manfreda et al., 2018).
The drone was originated as a military tool and was given different names such as
Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV), Miniature Pilotless Aircraft, or Flying Mini Robots.
Nowadays it is being utilized in the business sector, infrastructure sector, farming, security,
insurance claims, mining, entertainment, telecommunication, and transport sector, etc.
Nowadays, the application of small unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) is growing at a very
fast rate in agribusiness (Ramirez and Galvez, 2019; Devi et al., 2020; Giacomo et al., 2018)
The traditional techniques used for pesticides and fertilizer spraying require more time and
are less effective, thus there is a need for technological advancement in this segment [FAO,
2018; Rolle et al., 2020]. Effective and timely spraying of plant protection measures is very
important under such circumstances. For this, miniaturized unmanned aerial vehicles which
are also known as drones which possess a wide array of benefits including high efficiency,
reduced labour requirement, vast area coverage, saving of time and energy and quick
response time, as well as environmental safety (Meng et al., 2018; Shamshiri et al., 2018).
As reported by Kurkute et al., 2018 Association of Unmanned Aerial Systems
International (2016) reported an annual growth of 85-92% every year mainly in the growing
market of Agriculture. According to World Health Organization (WHO) it is estimated about
3 million workforces are affected by poisoning from pesticides from which approximately
18000 die every year. It can be efficiently used in agriculture for certain activities such as
water management, weather phenomenon, infestation of disease & pests on crops, land
fertility and many others. Recently, it has been observed drone technology can cover nearly
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10 to 15 times of the area which can be covered with traditional land based techniques
(Dileep et al., 2020).
Irrigation sector is the biggest consumer of water which is almost 80% of available water
resources in India, serving around 25 to 40% water use efficiency (WUE). Therefore, it is
necessary to improve WUE by achieving maximum yield. In order to improve WUE,
advanced information and communication technology (ICT) is playing a vital role. ICTs
have been widely used in precision farming which entail soil nutrient mapping, land levelling
system, variable rate technology for seeding and fertilizer application, early warning system
for pest and disease, spraying of agro-chemical and yield monitoring etc. (Bujang and Bakar,
2019).
The drone technology is now extensively used in water management issues faced in
agriculture and irrigation sector. Furthermore, various issues in agriculture management
come up due to climate change are crucial and there is immediate requirement for adoption of
advanced technologies such as drones, image processing etc., At the same time, this
technology may lead to increased crop production, productivity and its quality (Daponte et
al., 2019).
Despite being initially mainly used for military purposes, drones can benefit numerous
civilian applications, for example in supply chain management, for humanitarian purposes,
smart agriculture, surveying and mapping, cultural heritage documentation, disaster
management, and forest and wildlife conservation (Panday, Pratihast, et al., 2020).
Drones are semi-automatic devices that are continuously shifting toward fully automatic
devices. These devices have an enormous potential for agricultural planning and related
spatial information collection. In spite of some innate barriers, this technology can be utilized
for productive data analysis (Grammatikis et al., 2020).
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Types of drones:
 Single Rotor Helicopter Drones – They look exactly like tiny helicopters and can be
gas or electric-powered that can be used to survey land, research storms and map
erosion caused by global warming.
 Multi-Rotor Drones – They are usually some of the smallest and lightest drones on the
market. These drones can usually spend 20-30 minutes in the air carrying a
lightweight payload, such as a camera.
 Fixed-Wing Drones – They look like normal airplanes, where the wings provide the
lift instead of rotors- making them very efficient. These drones usually use fuel
instead of electricity. Fixed-wing UAVs are used by the military to carry out strikes,
by scientists to carry large amounts of equipment and even by non-profits to deliver
food and other goods to areas that are hard to reach.
 Fixed-Wing Hybrid VTOL Drones – They are a blend of fixed-wing drones and rotor-
based drones, featuring rotors that are attached to the wings. Due to its hybrid
approach, this technology offers users the endurance of a fixed-wing design and the
vertical flying capabilities of a rotor-focused design. (Pushpalatha et al., 2022)
Applications of drone in agriculture research, development and extension:
Drones have the following advantages compared to satellite high resolution images and
airborne sensors such as improved performances, improved efficiency, improvements in the
productivity, reduction of environmental impacts and the availability of compatible data from
large farms. Despite the transformation, Indian agriculture is still constrained by a number of
factors including unpredictable weather, scattered & small landholdings, non-scientific way
of farming and poor technological adoption.
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Applications of drone in Insect Pest Management:
Drone mediated remote sensing: Drone-based remote sensing technologies offer several
advantages that make them attractive for use in precision insect pest management. Sensing
drones likely allow the coverage of vast areas than handheld, ground-based devices.
Particular biotic stresses, such as insect pest infestations, bring about physiological plant
responses, lead to changes in the plants ability to perform photosynthesis and thus leads to
changes in leaf reflectance spectral range. Drone can be equipped with an RGB (red green
blue) sensor for aerial remote sensing, which is a multispectral sensor with between 3 and 12
broad spectral bands, or a hyper-spectral sensor with hundreds of narrow spectral bands
(Keller and Shields, 2014). It is need to note that with remote sensing, not the pests
themselves are detected, but patterns of canopy reflectance that are indicative of insect pest-
induced plant stress. Hence, field observations to confirm the presence of specific insect pest
remain necessary.
Drone mediated aerial photography: Drone-mediated aerial photography has enabled plant
pest surveillance with clustering of wireless sensors and networks and precision agricultural
design. Drone technology can give farmers with a great aerial view of their farm field and
allow them to make crucial management decisions in problem solving time. The images
captured by drones are transmitted to the cloud data centre for analysing the degree of
damage of pests based on spectrum analysis technology (Gao et al., 2020).
Drone mediated insect pest sampling: A drone-attachable apparatus is available for
trapping airborne insects either as position-fixed traps or freely movable traps can be
sufficiently well developed and utilized for insect pests sampling. A DD-screen (double-
charged dipolar electric field screen) is attached with drone which forms an electric field
between to create an attractive force to capture the insects that enter the electric field. The
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electric field is sufficiently strong that it prevents the captured insects from escaping the trap
(Takikawa et al. 2020).
Drone mediated precision application of insecticides: An actuation drone could help
control the pests at hotspots of the farm field through variable rate of application of
insecticides. Novel types of drone fitted with crop dusters and/or spray equipments and
available as commercial drones are currently being developed in different part of the world.
Along with precision monitoring, precision application of pesticides could reduce the total
number of sprays and thus contributing to reduced pesticide use and decreased resistance
development in insects, as well as increased presence of natural enemies in the field
Drone mediated precision releases of natural enemies: Now a day, drones are useful tool
for augmentative biological control, which depends on the extensive release of natural
enemies for immediate control of pests. They could distribute the natural enemies in the exact
locations where they are needed, which may level up the efficacy of bio-control agents and
reduce costs of distribution.
Drone mediated Sterile Insect Technique (SIT) and mating disruption: Another possible
area for use of drones in pest management is the release of sterile insects. Experimental
programs to release sterile insects with drones have been successful in controlling codling
moth populations in Canada, New Zealand and the USA. Furthermore, experimental
programs for control of cotton pink boll worm and Mexican fruit fly in citrus, with drone-
released sterile insects proved effective for control of these pests in the USA (Pushpalatha et
al., 2022)
Crop health monitoring:
Drones can be used for monitoring the conditions of crops throughout the crop season so
that the need-based and timely action can be taken. By using different kinds of sensors
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pertaining to visible, NIR and thermal infrared rays, different multispectral indices can be
computed based on the reflection pattern at different wavelengths. These indices can be used
to assess the conditions of crops like water stress, nutrient stress, insect-pest attack, diseases,
etc. The sensors present over the drones can see the incidence of diseases or deficiency even
before the appearance of visible symptoms. Thus, they serve as a tool for early detection of
the diseases. In this way, drones can be used for early warning system so that timely action
can be taken by applying the remedial measures based on the degree of the stress. UAVs
(Drone) are capable of observing the crop with different indices. The UAVs are able to cover
up hectares of fields in single flight. For this observation thermal and multi spectral Cameras
to record reflectance of vegetation canopy, which is mounted to downside of the quad copter.
The camera takes one capture per second and stores it into memory and sends to the ground
station through telemetry. The data coming from the multispectral camera through telemetry
was analysed by the Geographic indicator Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI)
Normalization difference vegetation index is a simple metric which indicates the health of
green vegetation. The basic theory is chlorophyll strongly reflects near infrared light (NIR,
around 750nm) while red and blue are absorbed. Chlorophyll reflects strongly which is why
plants appear green to us but reflection in NIR in even greater, this plays a very important
role and helps in rendering precise data for analysis. The calculations give the values -1 to
+1; near to 0 (ZERO) indicates no vegetation on the crop and near to +1 (0.8 to 0.9) means
highest density of green leaves on the crop. Based upon these result farmers easily identify
crop health condition also monitoring crops. Based upon these results, farmers easily identify
the field where can spray the pesticides. Drones can be used for monitoring the conditions of
crops throughout the crop season so that the need-based and timely action can be taken. The
quick and appropriate action can prevent yield loss. This technology will eliminate the need
to visually inspecting the crops by the farmers. They can monitor the horticultural crops or
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other crops present in remote areas like mountainous regions. They can also monitor the tall
crops and trees efficiently, which are otherwise challenging to scout physically by farmers.
(Gayathri et al., 2020)
Crop Irrigation Management:
Crop irrigation management is a very important area of application of UAV technologies in
Precision Agriculture. Currently, 70% of the water consumed worldwide is used for the
irrigation of crops, a fact that highlights the need for precision irrigation techniques. Precision
irrigation techniques can improve the efficiency of water use, so that the resource is applied
effectively: in the right places; at the right time; and in the right quantity. The detection of the
areas where major irrigation is needed can help the farmers to save time and water resources.
At the same time, such precision farming techniques can lead to increased crop productivity
and quality. In the context of precision agriculture, the field is divided in different irrigation
zones, to precisely manage the resources. The use of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles incorporating
suitable sensor types makes it possible to identify parts of a crop that need more water. At the
same time, the above technologies allow for the production of specialized maps that illustrate
the morphology of the soil, thus supporting the more efficient irrigation planning of each crop
separately (Tsouras et al., 2019)
Disease surveillance:
For detecting the occurrence of pests and diseases on farms, remote-sensing technologies e.g.,
satellites and drones are employed to find insect pests and inform farmers of the state-of-
affairs promptly. Agricultural detection technology depending on satellites, called high-
altitude remote-sensing technology, has the advantages of the extensive monitoring area, fine
timeliness, short revisit period, and low cost. On the one hand, a satellite device can cover a
large area and is suitable for a wide range of disaster monitoring. On the other hand, satellite
22
technology is susceptible to weather and has a low spatial resolution, making it challenging to
meet the need for pest and disease monitoring in agricultural fields. Now, the remote-sensing
technology with low-altitude (e.g., drones) has the characteristics of high flexibility and
image definition, which can meet the requirements of pest and disease monitoring for crops.
(Wang B et al., 2020)
Author of [1] has said

“Unmanned aerial vehicles
(UAVs) have great potential to
allow
new applications in various
areas, ranging from military,
defense, medicine, and
surveillance applications to
traffic monitoring. Lately,
heavy investment has been
made
23
in the production of UAVs and
multi-UAV systems which can
more effectively and
economically cooperate and
complete missions. Emerging
technologies such as 4G/5 G
networks have significant
potential in delivering high-
level Internet of Things (IoT)
connectivity to UAVs fitted
with cameras, sensors and GPS
receivers, forming an aerial
IoT area. There are, however,
several problems that need to
be addressed before UAVs
24
can be used successfully,
including protection, privacy
and management. As such, we
Weather forecasting:
Weather drones are specially developed drones that are used in weather data collection. They
fly in the lowest layer of the earth's atmosphere, the so-called boundary layer. Equipped with
special sensors, they can collect information about temperature, humidity and wind in the
atmosphere. The collected data helps to significantly improve weather forecast models.
The use of drones in weather data collection offers a major advance over traditional methods
of data collection. Weather drones are more manoeuvrable, can withstand sudden wind
changes and are thus better equipped to collect vertical data. Measurements near buildings
and structures in urban environments or offshore environments can also be taken using
weather drones. The accuracy of weather forecast models is thus greatly improved with real
time data feeds. With these more accurate models, it will be possible for meteorologists to
provide much more precise, hyperlocal forecasts and nowcasts. The use of the accurate
forecasts is particularly crucial for air traffic operations at airports or to be able to warn of
tornadoes or hurricanes at an early stage. In addition, the data from the boundary layer is used
for long-term data collection for climate change research and for a variety of other
applications. (Lukas et al., 2017)

25
allow
made
26
©Daffodil International
University
27
allow
made
28
allow
29
made
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and management. As such,
Daponte et al (2019) reported that at present agriculture drones can be applied for biomasses,
crop growth and food quality monitoring, precision farming, and harvesting and logistic
optimization
Calina et al. (2020) reported that drone technology can help farmers to optimize the use
inputs such as seeds, fertilizers, pesticides, water, respond more quickly to threats such as
weeds, diseases and pests, and save time for on-the-spot surveillance. Celen et al. (2020)
reported that drone technology can be used in agriculture for disease and pest detection, water
stress detection, yield/maturity estimation, weed flora detection, wated resources control and
monitoring of workers based on remote sensing and plant monitoring techniques.
In addition to above, drones offer the option of producing with a new perspective and
approach in terms of developing agriculture, increasing efficiency, and making correct land
31
control. Nowadays, drones are going to become an alternative of traditional pesticide
sprayers used by farmers. Recent advances in remote-sensed imagery and geospatial image
processing using unmanned aerial vehicles have enabled the rapid and ongoing development
of monitoring tools for crop management and the detecting/surveillance of insect pests and
diseases. The real-time video monitoring system for pests and diseases is established publicly
by the aid of high-definition cameras on UAVs or mounting racks, which means farmers have
to enter the farmland for checking the crops frequently and improve the overall working
efficiency
Crop protection using drones:
The use of unmanned aerial vehicles in agriculture can contribute to the efficient management
of agricultural farms. They have already found applications in precision agriculture, where
they are replacing planes and satellites in the remote sensing of crops (Pinter et al., 2003;
Primicerio et al., 2012). Apart from the use of drones in activities that provide information in
agriculture, they can also become part of agricultural machinery. At present, efforts are being
undertaken to use them to perform spraying of crops with pesticides. Due to their small
range, which is mainly caused by the battery capacity, electric drones are chiefly used in
operations on the small surfaces of fields situated on different heights or in locations that are
hard to access (Berner & Chojnacki 2017). The advantages of the use of drones in the fight
against pests include the possibility to quickly reach the place where the operation is to be
performed and a short time of its performance; there are no problems connected with soil
compaction or crumpling of plants. They can be particularly useful in the case of spot
spraying over a large surface. Owing to replacing manual, backpack and tractor sprayers with
them, the risk is reduced of poisoning of people who perform spraying with pesticides
because the spraying drone operator is at a considerable distance from the place of the
operation. The following are mentioned as the disadvantages of the use of drones to spray
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pesticides: a relatively high cost of the equipment as compared to possibilities offered by it, a
small volume of the liquid tanks, a short flying time, the unreliability of the equipment and
the uncertainty of the quality of operations (Sizhe et al., 2017).
Nutrient status and deficiency monitoring:
Plants need the appropriate levels of nutrients in order to thrive and produce a strong yield. The
appropriate levels of nitrogen will ensure strong growth of vegetation and foliage, appropriate levels
of phosphorous are required for strong root and stem growth and appropriate levels of potassium are
necessary for improving of the resistance to disease and also to ensure a better quality of crop. If soil
lacks any of these nutrients, the plant will become stressed and will struggle to thrive. NDVI Index
mosaics offer the possibility to identify exactly which areas of the crops are stressed or struggling and
to target directly these areas. The NIR/multispectral imagery provided by the UAVs can identify these
management zones long before the problem become visible to the naked eye. This means that these
management zones can be targeted before crop development and yield is affected. Currently, the most
common way to determine the nutritional status is visually, by means of plant colour guides that do
not allow quantitatively rigorous assessments. More accurate evaluations require laboratorial leaf
analyses, which are time consuming and require the application of specific methods for a correct
interpretation of the data. There are some indirect alternatives available for some nutrients, such as the
chlorophyll meter Soil-plant analyses development (SPAD) for nitrogen predictions, but this is a time
consuming process and the estimates are not always accurate. Thus, considerable effort has been
dedicated to the development of new methods for the detection and estimation of nutritional problems
in plants. Nitrogen is, by far, the most studied nutrient due to its connection to biomass and yield.
Potassium and sodium have also received some attention. Multispectral images have been the
predominant choice for the extraction of meaningful features and indices, but RGB and hyper spectral
images are also frequently adopted. Data fusion combining two or even three types of sensors
(multispectral, RGB, and thermal) has also been investigated. The vast majority of the studies found
in the literature extracts vegetation indices from the images and relates them with nutrient content
using a regression model (usually linear). Although less common, other types of variables have also
33
been used to feed the regression models, such as the average reflectance spectra, selected spectral
bands, colour features, and principal components. All of these are calculated from hyper spectral
images, except the colour features, which are calculated from RGB images. (Gopal dutta et al., 2020)
Weed control:
Weeds are not desirable plants, which grow in agricultural crops and can cause several problems.
They are competing for available resources such as water or even space, causing losses to crop yields
and in their growth. Yield losses due to weed in India: Rice (10-100%), Wheat (10-60%), Maize (30-
40%), Sugarcane (25-50%), Vegetables (30-40%), Jute (30- 70%), Potato (20-30%) etc., The use of
herbicides is the dominant choice for weed control. In conventional farming, Farmers uprooted weeds
after post emergence and the most common practice of weed management is to spray the same
amounts of herbicides over the entire field, even within the weed-free areas. However, the overuse of
herbicides can result in the evolution of herbicide-resistant weeds and it can affect the growth and
yield of the crops. Using hyperspectral images to discriminate between the spectral signatures of some
weeds with different resistances to glyphosate. Using RGB sensors to classify various weed species.
Researchers used drone with hyper spectral sensors to monitor weed as a function of the plant canopy
chlorophyll content and leaf density. In addition, it poses a heavy pollution threat to the environment.
To overcome the above problems site specific weed management is used to achieve this goal, it is
necessary to generate an accurate weed cover map for precise spraying of herbicide. Drone can gather
images and derive data from the whole field that can be used to generate a precise weed cover map
depicting the spots where the chemicals are needed. Agro-drone application for weedicide spray
useful for preemergence & post emergence weed control. Spraying is possible in any field condition
(muddy, weeds, insects etc.) also in sunny and drizzling condition. Weedicide application through
drone is efficient and optimizes uses of weedicide. It is simple to use and easy to carry and maintain.
Operate remotely that is very safe for health. (Purba goswami et al., 2020)
Spraying:
34
A sprayer system is mounted on UAV for pesticides spraying. The integration of UAV with sprayer
system results a potential to provide a platform to pest management and vector control. This is
accurate site-specific application for a large crop field. For this purpose, heavy lift UAVs are required
for large area of spraying. The efficiency of the spraying system which is mounted to the UAV
increases through the PWM controller in the pesticide applications. A petrol powered unmanned aerial
vehicle Yamaha RMAX [15] developed for pesticide spraying in rice fields of Asia. In comparison
with ground-based sprayers, deposition of pesticides from the developed UAV is almost similar. The
RMAX is a crop sprayer for a high value crop environment. A prototype extendable to develop a UAV
with increasing volume mean diameter droplet size up to 300mm. The uses of UAV in spraying
operations are increasing because of its speed and accuracy. But some factors reduce the crop quality
like some area in the crop field is not covered properly while spraying, Crop areas overlapping and
outer edges of the crop field in the spraying process. To overcome these factors, a swarm of UAVs
were used in a control loop of algorithm for agriculture operations, where unmanned aerial vehicles
are the responsible for the spraying pesticides. The process of spraying the pesticides on the crop is
organized by the feedback coming from the WSNs deployed in the field. The communication with
each one is done by a control loop to adjust the route of unmanned aerial vehicle to changes in the
speed of wind and number of messages exchanged in between. A short delay in the control loop, so
that the unmanned aerial vehicle can analyse the data from WSN to further route. It could also
minimize the waste of pesticides. An automatic navigation UAV spraying system MSP430 developed
to direct the UAV in desired spray area. A blimp integrated quad copter aerial automated pesticide
sprayer (AAPS) was developed for pesticide spraying based on the GPS coordinates in lower altitude
environment. To, overcome this a low-cost user flexible pesticide spraying drone “Freyr” was
developed which is controlled by an android app. A laboratory and field evolutions are analysed for
discharge and pressure rate of the liquid, spray uniformity and liquid loss, droplet density and sizes of
a developed hexa copter mounted sprayer. To reduce the wastage of pesticides an electrostatic sprayer
introduced and designed on electrostatic spray technology with a hexa rotor UAV. A particle image
velocimetry method was used to measure the downwash flow field droplet movement and deposition
over the crop at different rotating speeds of the rotors of an octocopter using a double pulsed laser.
35
Drift of ultralow altitude UAVs downdraft produced by the rotors are penetrated the deposition of the
droplets in the lower layers almost all equal to when compare to Upper layers of the paddy and wheat
fields. Moreover, filter papers and water sensitive papers are used to study the spraying deposition and
droplet coverage over the fields in multi spraying swath. Keeping in view of these facts, a crop
monitoring and Pesticide spraying UAVs are developed consisting of an automated drone system and
sprinkling system with multi spectral camera. The sprinkling system is attached to the lower region
off the UAV which has a nozzle beneath the pesticide tank to sprinkle the pesticide towards
downstream. First monitoring is done by multi spectral camera, the camera scans the whole crop field
and generates a spatial map. This map manifests the condition of the crop through NDVI and then the
farmer evaluates which type of pesticides/fertilizers apply on the crop. (Mogili et al., 2018)
Geo fencing using drone:
In the agriculture world, the farmers are doing the cultivation process done with the help of
the soils and their quality levels. It will vary from season to season due to the hardness of the
soil and changed their capability in a different part of the countries. To overcome this
problem researchers and farmers are working on the development of soil quality levels
especially in minerals improvement. Fertilizers used for farming are very high to increase
crop growth and yields. For that purpose, nutrition, fertilizer and minerals are used in
agricultural lands. The farmers are doesn’t worried about their levels maintained in the land
and water quality. The values of the minerals drained by the land will decrease at different
seasons. Monitoring and controlling of this process cannot be done by the farmers with a low-
cost system. IoT framework is helped to these farmers for improving the soil quality of the
land remotely using centralized server control. Moreover, minerals identified lands are
marked using the Geo-Fencing technique created with mobile phone applications and details
will be stored in cloud storage for future analytics purposes. Geo-Fencing is the technique to
improve the soil quality of the farmer’s land using droned images taken from the land
frequently. Drone images have been created on the land place or taken as a dataset from the
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approved government websites. The mapped images are further connected with the Google
map application for easy recovery for analytics purposes. This system will improve the soil
quality levels information and the values to the farmers through smart devices for decision
making
The Geo-fencing of agricultural lands based on soil quality using drones and smart devices
research work has developed and results are taken from the different types of land in a city at
changing seasons. The overall result intimates the geo-fencing techniques is used to identify
healthy land farmers in terms of minerals added to the soil and how the farming process can
be improved on various seasons. Multiple results have been taken and analysed using modern
tools for developing farmers' land quality at each cultivation process. Every time the
cultivation process got over the percentage of the mineral in the soil is decreased elastically
due to the crops used in previous cultivation. Those deviations are identified with the help of
the IoT framework and future development will base on minerals present in the soil at various
seasons like summer, winter, etc. Drones are used to take images of the land before starting
the farming process to identify the mineral levels. A Cloud storage system will be used for
data collection and analytics from the different land soils. Geo-fencing is the concept of
classifying or categorizes healthy land or poor land based on the soil quality which is
working in the different places of the city (Buli et al., 2019)
Soil analysis:
In some regions of the world, soil type varies in a single field plot and these variations are
visible in RGB. Therefore, an RGB camera was used for aerial imaging with a drone. For
aerial imaging a DJI Phantom 4 Pro (DJI, Shenzhen, Guangdong, China) was used with
autopilot in a tablet.
37
As the objective in aerial imaging is to see the colour variations of the soil, it is crucial to
select the imaging conditions properly, so that the conditions do not change during the flight,
shadows and soil surface reflections represent the nominal soil colour and not
the moisture variation in the surface and lighting is sufficient for the camera. To avoid biased
colors due to varying moisture conditions, the soil should be equally moist and not have
standing water on the surface.
The drone used for imaging is equipped with a standard autonomous GNSS receiver without
corrections and hence, the position stamps in recorded images are inaccurate. Even if the
stitching process done with the Drone Deploy cloud service compensates inaccuracies over
dozens of images, the orthophoto is not exactly where it should be as geo referenced image
and the deviation may be as large as three meters. (Janna et al., 2018)
Livestock monitoring:
Significant research has been done on the detection and counting of animals using drone
images. Earlier approaches involved the capture of the targeted area’s video footage for
manual analysis. Later, the process improved in several ways like thresholding, sliding
window approach, thermal imaging, etc. With the help of image segmentation, the detection
and counting process can be further improved. The challenging task of online tracking of
animals is discussed in several articles. The works presented make use of Long-term
Recurrent Convolutional Networks (LRCN) to track the cattle across frames. It extends the
task of identification and tracking to open set identification. The identification of misplaced
livestock is formulated as an optimization problem to maximize the probability of detection
of livestock. Another research dimension is the coordination and communication between
multiple UAVs in tracking tasks, which has been attempted to be solved using a high-speed
local network, long-distance Wi-Fi access points etc., Besides health monitoring, the impact
38
of exploratory agency to ease the process of online monitoring, behaviour monitoring,
livestock roundup, optimal distribution of cattle in the grazing land, etc. An intelligent
surveillance system in monitors the behaviour and health issues where drones are used to
collect pictures and video clips. An Automatic Veterinary System (AVS) is proposed in for
livestock monitoring systems where the customized UAV can work autonomously, without
requiring any frequent check by the operator. RFID code, colour code band, and various
sensors can improve the accuracy and performance of such AVS, where smartphone
applications may ease the decision making process. (Alanezi et al., 2022)
Monitoring health: Manually monitoring hundreds of animals is challenging, and
monitoring their health conditions becomes more difficult and time-consuming. However,
drones these days are used to monitor livestock’ health conditions. Equipped with cameras
and thermal imaging scanners, these drones are capable of imaging livestock from a distance
and measuring vital health conditions like temperature, weight, size, and visual ailments. This
helps farmers in identifying and curing potentially sick livestock before their condition gets
any worse.
Monitoring health using drones allows farmers to separate diseased livestock from the herd to
avoid spread. Detecting illness during the initial phase increases the chances of survival by
timely medication and vaccination, thus reducing the loss of livestock.
Herding: Maintaining a herd in large numbers, avoiding splitting, and preventing them from
wandering is a task for farmers. This may require more man-force to manage; otherwise, it
will result in losing livestock. To avoid this, drones with high precision cameras are used to
manage herds in pastures. This is done by: -
i) Counting and maintaining the total strength of the herd,
ii) Keeping track of each animal helps in finding the stray ones,
39
iii) Avoiding wanderings as drone’s sound makes livestock move in the right direction
iv) Saving time and human efforts.
Tracking pastures/Farm security: For the well-being of each animal, it is crucial to reduce
all the possible threats like wild animals, poisonous plants, and broken fences in and around
the pasture lands. Thus, maintaining farm security is crucial in livestock monitoring. Drone
technology is used for tracking pastures. They scan the images of possible threats on the farm
and also help in getting rid of them.
One of the problems most farmers face is that livestock escape the farmland, and drones help
resolve this issue by doing periodic inspections around the fences. This has helped farmers in
maintaining farm security and preventing rustling. (Alanezi et al., 2022)
Cattle counting and monitoring:
The use of drones for monitoring livestock is slowly gaining pace and in various
countries. Australia and Israel have already started using lots of cattle monitoring drones.
Drones or UAVs can be used to detect and count the number of cattle heads Drones can fly a
quick round of the cattle shed or field at any time and capture images or make videos. These
images can be easily checked or visualized to check the number of the cattle or any activity in
the farm Anyone can see live video of any place by sitting at a distant place with the help of
these drones. They are especially helpful for night time monitoring due to human eye’s
inability see in the dark (Veroustraete,2015). When using cattle monitoring and tracking
drones’ farmers can use drones embedded with thermal sensing technology which can find
any of the animals using their body temperature. The drones provide clear thermal images
which easily reveal the difference between one animal from another. An observer drone
hovers 90- 270 feet above the herd. This drone uses downward- facing stereo cameras to
track motion. It determines the location and orientation of the cattle. The drones or unmanned
40
air vehicles (UAVs) can help farmers with a way to remotely check on the location and health
of each cow, allowing them address cattle health and safety issues much sooner.
Herding Cattle with Drones
As an era of automation and technology ushers in we have come across many reports of
robots replacing human labour. Several countries have now explored the use of herding cattle
and sheep with drones. Farmers can use a drone with a camera to locate the herd in the
pastures and move it. This helps reduce the time it takes to move cattle. When you move a
drone over the herd, they will move away from the sound of the drone. Many a times, some
cattle move away from the herd It’s important to locate them and get them back with other
animals in the herd. You can use the drone to make the stray animals move in the direction
you want them to go. This is very useful in areas it’s hard to get to like hilly pastures where
the herdsmen might have to walk a considerable distance of tough terrain and look for the
livestock. Unmanned Aerial Vehicles or drones can thus act as herders and can replace the
dogs, the drone operators use these drones to keep an eye on the sick or escaped animals.
(Alanezi et al., 2022)
Tree counting:
Tree counting is vital for estimation of yield, observation, replanting, and layout preparation.
Nevertheless, it is costly, labour-intensive, and prone to human error when done in the field.
Furthermore, due to the variability of the plantations, most plantations used to estimate cost
estimates by multiplication of the total location by the amount of palms per hectare, which is
inaccurate because of the diverse land mass such as hilly, undulating, or flat and presents of
natural features such as river, land, or forest. Remote sensing was a possible option for seeing
the plantation area and automatically counting the trees to solve this problem.
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In the mid-1980s, studies into automatic detection of trees and feature extraction from digital imagery
began. Pinz offered aerial imaging utilizing a vision expert system; although, various detection
methods have been proposed. This system powers the centrifuge. The centre of the tree crown was
successfully detected using this approach, and the radius was estimated using local brightness,
followed by the valleys between the tree crowns using ground sampled distance digital aerial images.
Mansur et al., 2017 utilized drone data capture and spatial filtering to acquire data for counting oil
palm tree using ground control points. They used the concept of crown geometry and vegetation
response to radiation in their research. A spatial convolution processing approach, such as a low pass
filter, was used to detect the tree crown in the enlarged image. After applying a spatial filter to the data
set, morphological analysis was used to perform object extraction, image filtering, and image
segmentation processes.
Wang et al., 2017 improved on Brandt Berg and Walter work by first using edge detection methods to
detect the boundaries of tree crowns, then intersecting the results of local non maximum suppression
on grey level images and local maximum values of morphological transformed distance between
pixels. By combining the two methods, a decent estimate of the treetops was obtained, which were
subsequently tallied using contour-based methods. The presence of background objects, such as
buildings and roads, however, causes this method to fail.
Case study of application of the drone in different areas:
Koparan et al. (2018) describe a system for performing water quality measurements on
site. This system consists of a custom-built hexacopter equipped with a multi-probe based on
open-source electronic senses that allow for measuring water temperature, electrical
conductivity, dissolved oxygen and pH. This device was tested on a 1.1 ha agricultural pond
and the measurements proved to be reasonably accurate, allowing one to obtain maps
displaying the spatial distribution over the pond of the measured parameters.
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Erena et al. (2019) described new equipment (aerial, floating and underwater drones)
based on open-source technology that allow for data acquisition in water reservoirs and
performing bathymetric surveys. The authors tested their devices on 21 reservoirs from the
Segura River Basin in South East Spain. For each reservoir, the authors carried out two
flights, acquiring aerial images that allowed them to obtain a photogrammetry survey of the
reservoirs. Surface water vehicles and underwater remote-operated vehicles were used for
bathymetric surveys. Moreover, underwater vehicles performed water-quality measurements.
Their results showed that the annual loss rate of water storage capacity was 0.33% on average
for the surveyed reservoirs.
Gao et al. (2019) explore the advantages of integrating unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV)
photogrammetry and image recognition for measuring water level. The developed system
captures water fluctuation using an UAV airborne camera, and the obtained imagery is
processed for measure the water level by calibrating a set of parameters.
Yield estimation using drone in oil palm:
The combination of real-time remote sensing images and information from related sensors
can provide information that can increase plantation productivity through the mapping of
spatial information changes in the field. Information on the status of the cultivation area such
as soil profile and crop fertility can help in fertilization planning, watering schedule, weather
analysis data, and also crop yield estimates. The collection of all this information by using
drone technology can provide a more effective management plan.
Bura et al., used drone technology in predicting the yield of oil palm harvest, by dividing the
study into two stages, namely, by the configuration of the drone system and in the image
processing for predicting the yield of oil palm harvest. The drone system configuration
included the use of an X-8 airframe with Pixhawk control system, electric motor, and 20.2
43
mega pixel digital camera RGB (red, green, and blue) sensor. High-resolution images were
once taken at a 6-year-old oil palm plantation in North Sumatra. The resulting image was
used to calculate the forecast of crop yield by using the number of crops. The estimated
harvest for that particular area was detected as an average of 50.5 tonnes per hectare per year,
which is more than the management company’s estimation at 23 tonnes per hectare per year.
An accurate early yield prediction is beneficial to farmers as well as the plantation industry.
With drone technology, the use of high-resolution sensors can map accurate crop information
such as crop height, canopy cover, and crop distribution, which can be used to predict crop
yields. Distribution using RGB sensors and multispectral sensors is used to predict crop
yields.
`Crop health monitoring:
In precision agriculture application, the most common technique to assess vegetation health is
remote sensing techniques and image analytics. Meanwhile, one of the most widely used RS
approach is aerial inspection, using satellite acquired imagery and manned aircrafts, as well
as drones. In the context of precision agriculture, exploring satellite images is a big
investment for a typical farmer, and sometimes, their quality and resolution are not acceptable
and technical. However, conversely to previous cases, aerial photos acquired by manned
aircrafts reveals a more acceptable quality compared to satellite images. On the other hand,
drone is less cost-effective and can provide high-resolution images. Drone, an unmanned
aircraft, will be operated remotely by an operator. It can carry several cameras such as
multispectral and hyperspectral that acquire aerial photos. More so, these images will be used
for the extraction of vegetation indices that allows farmers to inspect crop variability and
stress conditions constantly.
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Duan et al., used the application of NDVI in monitoring plant growth. This NDVI technique
calculated photosynthetic and assessing the canopy status of green plants. He used a
multispectral sensor (RedEdge) at low flight altitudes to record images from various bands
from various stages of plant growth with a transformation ratio measured between the
reflectance measured at the red wavelength range and NIR wavelength range. With all the
data obtained from multispectral sensors and field verification using handheld sensors (e.g.,
Green Seeker), this range of information had assisted in the development process of crop
growth mechanisms.
Assessing crop water requirements:
Aguilar et al., (2018) present an evaluation and validation of the MOD16 algorithm, based
on satellite information. The evapotranspiration values obtained by this approach were
compared with ground – based eddy covariance measurements in five Northwestern Mexico
locations. These sites are arid or semiarid and devoted to wheat cultivation or natural
vegetation (shrubs). The indicators used showed a high variability among the studied sites in
the performance of MOD16, usually underestimating evapotranspiration. The authors
concluded that MOD16 allows for a fair estimation of crop water needs in the studied sites;
however, due to the lack of ground-based measurements, a generalized use of this satellite-
based approach cannot be supported by the current data.
Ramirez-Cuesta et al., (2019) presented a tool integrated into ArcGIS for estimating crop
water needs from satellite images. The dual crop coefficient approach was combined with
imagery from Landsat 7 and 8, and Sentinel 2A. This study shows a user-friendly tool that
requires a low number of inputs, and describes the spatial variability of crop water demands
within an entire field. The statistical indicators showed good adjustments, with root mean
45
squared errors ranging from 0.01 to 0.02 in both lettuce and peach crops; however, certain
underestimations were observed.
Characterizing crop water status:
Sabzi et al., (2018) developed a five-step algorithm for apples grown in outdoor
conditions. They tested this algorithm in an apple orchard under 16 different light intensities.
The accuracy of the proposed algorithm was higher than 99% outperforming existing
methods.
Crop monitoring:
Sensor equipped drones can collect spectral data and create map showing crop health
changes. Multispectral and RGB cameras equipped drones offer the advantage of imaging
the near infrared portion of the electromagnetic spectrum over the crops, thus providing the
crops health condition (Daponte et al., 2019).
Combination of Excess Green- Red (ExGR) vegetation index and YUV color space gives
the best result with accuracy greater than 95.8% (Ghazali et al., 2022). This technology
increases consistency and efficiency of crop management, besides reducing the cost (Press
Information Bureau, 2021)
Variable rate fertility:
By using drone technology, variable-rate application (VRA) maps to determine the
strength of nutrient uptake within a single field, the farmer can apply 300 kg/ha of fertilizer to
46
struggling areas, 200 kg/ha to medium quality areas, and 150 kg/ha to healthy areas,
decreasing fertilizer costs and increasing yield (Veroustraete, 2015)
Cattle herd monitoring:
Drones are a solid option for monitoring herds from overhead, tracking the quantity and
activity level of animals on one’s fields. In the Kaziranga National Park in India, drone has
also become a tool for tracking human poachers.
Disease surveillance:
Schmale of Virginia Tech is using drones to discover pathogens that have not landed in
vacancies. He captured the air spores of Fusatium graminearum, which destroys wheat and
corn and has drifted away by a few kilometres or more (Rent et al., 2020).
Mechanical pollinators:
A New York based startup has developed a pollen dump drone that helps pollinate fruits
such as almonds, cherries and apples. They reported that its drone rate could be increased
from 25% to 65% (Rent et al.,2020).
Agricultural insurance investigation:
The drone has the characteristics of manoeuvring fast response, high resolution image and
high-precision positioning data acquisition capability, application expansion capability of
various task devices, and convenient system maintenance, which can efficiently perform
disaster-damaged tasks. Through aerial surveys to obtain data, post-processing and technical
analysis of aerial photographs and comparison with field measurement results, insurance
companies can more accurately determine the actual disaster area. Insurance companies can
47
use drones to get a better idea on the extent of damage after a hail storm, easily determining
whether a field has 70% compared with 90% loss (Stehr, 2015).
Planting:
A seed dropping mechanism using drone, seeds are dispersed upon reaching the
predetermined positions, with maximum capacity of 60 seeds per minute and also capable of
dropping 28800 seed balls in 8 hours (Ghazali et al., 2022). Start-ups have developed drone
planting systems that achieve an uptake rate of 75% and decrease planting costs by 85%
(Ahirwar et al., 2019).
Crop spraying:
In fact, experts estimate that aerial spraying can be completed up to five times faster with
drones than with traditional machinery (Azhirwar et al., 2019). Human being charges 100/-
to 200/- rupees per day for pesticides spraying, as compared to them drone takes 3 watts of
power then it will charge 10/- rupees only of electricity (Kurkute et al., 2018). Some of the
aspects that give drones a competitive edge over manned crop dusters is their relative ease of
deployment, reduction in operator exposure to pesticides, and potential reduction of spray
drif. Drone is capable of spraying 1.15 and 1.08 hectares per hour for groundnut and paddy
crop, respectively (Ghazali et al., 2022). Spraying the pesticide with drone from 3.5 m height
gives higher droplets coverage rate and uniformity on wheat canopy than ground spraying
(Ghazali et al., 2022). Use of drones to spray pesticides can save about 80% of operating
time, 90% of water consumption and 50% of pesticide use (Bujang and Bakar, 2019; Varma
et al., 2022).
Mapping and soil analysis:
48
Compared to the terrestrial mapping i.e., theodolite, drone mapping has a lower
implementation cost (RM 6000 or 1500 USD or Rs. 19909.93 cheaper), about 68 times faster,
and requires lower manpower (Ghazali et al., 2022). It is also helpful in acquiring
information such as pH level, soil type, and chemical contents in the soil. Drone in
combination of orthophotos, multispectral images, and digital surface model (DSM) data
produced the most accurate classification, with accuracy rate near 90%.
Study by other researchers:
In 2010, Zhu et al. proposed a PWM regulator-based pre-programmed and remotely
controlled helicopter for pesticide spraying in the agriculture field. A fixed frequency PWM
(TL494), data acquisition system and software developed along with a guided system were
used. PWM controller was tested on LabVIEW 8.2 software and after that, it was analysed by
using different control signals to get the optimum result. A designed spraying system with a
PWM controller has the ability to enhance the efficiency of pesticide applications in the field.
The system was remotely controlled, however, the telemetry system used for signal
transmission was not precise.
In 2017, Bruno S. Faiçal et al. proposed an adaptive control approach for pesticide spraying
using UAVs in dynamic environments [56]. Static configuration was inefficient in changing
weather conditions. Environment system (AdEn) Software system was created which had two
parts: (i) Collector and Actuating (CollAct), and (ii) OPTImization Core (OPTIC). CollAct
49
inspected the weather conditions and accordingly, route changing parameters were updated.
Route optimization was achieved by OPTIC as per the actual weather condition. The
experimental results showed that the performance of the proposed pesticide sprayer system
has been enhanced in the tested scenario. However, there was a need for the development of
an automatic sprayer system with lower costs.
In 2017, He Luo et al. proposed a genetic algorithm-based multi-UAV system for the
optimization of pesticide spraying tasks. Maximizing the profit of pesticide spraying was
selected as the main optimization task. Planning flight trajectory was another important task
in pesticide spraying using multiple UAVs. A combination of Dubins Team Orienteering
Problem (DTOP), Variable Time Windows (VTW), and Variable Profits (VP) models, was
proposed for the path allocation of UAVs. An analysis based upon two majorly factors
affecting the efficacy of the task was done. These factors were amount of pesticide to be
sprayed and the temperature of the environment. The designed model was found to be more
accurate than the regular manual procedure of pesticide application. The model was tested for
only a rectangular field, and its efficacy for different shaped fields was not verified.
In 2017, Spoorthi et al. developed a drone name Freyr for uniform spraying applications in
the field [58]. A user-friendly android app was developed with Wi-Fi interface. A smart
controller board (Arduino Mega-2560) was used to control the system process. Freyr drone
had an ability to rout any field portion irrespective of shape. It was useful for low-level
farming. However, technical knowledge was required by the farmers for using the developed
android app.
50
In 2018, B. Balaji et al. designed a hexacopter using a Raspberry Pi controller to make the
agriculture technologies farmer-friendly. Python language programming was used for disease
and weed detection in crop monitoring applications. Various sensors like water level sensors,
LDR, and DHR were connected to get the data corresponding to the real condition of the
crops. It was concluded that almost 20–90% saving is possible in terms of chemical, water,
and labor using this technology. However, this system needed an improvement in the payload
of the drone.
In 2019, Sheng Wen et al. designed a UAV integrated variable spray system that was based
upon an artificial neural network (ANN). Utilizing sensor data, ANN model, and data
acquisition, a program was written in Keil Software for applying pesticides as per the
requirement. Software named UAVDDPS was designed to predict droplet deposition. The
ANN model predicted the deposition rate of chemicals and accordingly, the flow rate of the
spray system was regulated. An experiment was conducted in a paddy field and it was found
that the ratio of droplet deposition to prescription value in each unit is approximately equal.
The error between the predicted droplet deposition and actual droplet deposition was found to
be less than 20%.
In 2019, Kislaya Anand, Goutam designed a drone named AeroDrone for field monitoring
and chemical spraying. The aim was to minimize the time of spraying and the loss of
pesticide. A simulation platform was proposed to assign the mission on the field and to check
the sensibility and accuracy of this plan. Results proved that the work performed by this
quad-copters integrated system was efficient and the mission time of each quadcopter was
51
almost the same. This scheme showed good results however it was only tested for a
rectangular farmland.
In 2019, Martinez-Guanter et al. have designed and developed an aerial pesticide spraying
system that considered the limitations of payload. It was designed using low-cost material so
as to make a low-budget drone. UAV with approximately 6 kg take-off weight, with GNSS
receiver and telemetry system was designed. The modular nozzle had two configurations, one
has four nozzles with 250 mm spacing and the other has a single anti drift nozzle. Pump
speed was controlled from a remote-control station. The pumping range was between 0.10
ltr/min to 0.22 ltr/min. A PWM-based control system was used for autonomous application.
The efficiency and reliability of the hardware system were tested in super-high-thick olive
and citrus plants. The experimental results showed that the developed system was able to save
approximately €7/ha in comparison to the previously used system.
In 2020, Karan Kumar Shaw et al. has designed an octocopter with a lower weight spraying
system. Payload was determined by considering the sizes of the tank storage (that was 6
Litres), fluid density, nozzles (fine spray), and pump. According to payload requirement, 8
Brushless Direct Current (BLDC) motors, Electronic Speed Controller, Propeller, 12 V pump,
FPV camera, video transmitter, and LI-PO battery were selected for system design. This
octocopter design was good for farm monitoring, however, there was a need to change the
manually controlled system into an AI-based autonomous system to improve its performance.
During recent years, a lot of changes can be observed in the drone flight controllers as well as
in the spraying systems. The spraying system upgraded from a semi-controlled device to AI-
52
based fully automated system. The blocks used in a fully automatic pesticide spraying
system. A fully automatic pesticide spraying system is capable of spot spraying by analysing
the real-time data. It does not require any human efforts in chemical spraying, that makes it a
great choice toward safer and more economical system.
Initiatives for implementation of drone in India:
In March 2021, the Ministry of Civil Aviation published the Drone Rules, 2021. On 21
December 2021, the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare (MOA & FW) released
standard operating procedures (SOP) for use of drones in pesticides application for crop
protection and for spraying soil and crop nutrients. On 19 february 2022, the Prime Minister
of India flagged off 100 kisan drones in different parts of the country for spraying pesticides
and other farm inputs.
On 18 April, 2022, MOA & FW has released a memorandum on listing interim approved
pesticides to be used for spraying by a drone for a period of two years. On 27 may 2022, the
Prime Minister of India inaugurated “Bharat Drone Mahotsav – 2022” at Pragati Maidan,
New Delhi. It is a testimony for use of modern tools for increasing efficiency and precision
in agriculture operations. The Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) has planned to
launch a programme.
Limitations and implications: the future of drone technology in agriculture
Despite the recognized benefits of drone technology, several challenges remain before the
widespread adoption of drones across agricultural systems. Similar to other emerging
innovations, public perception of drones remains divided. This may be associated with the
lack of a framework that standardizes practices of drones, thus making drones appear as a
technology that is not adequately regulated and is yet to be harnessed.
53
A 2020 study by Ayamga et al. offers more insights into the international regulations of
drones, and proposes a new approach to improving the inclusion of stakeholders and
regulators to implement and enforce developed regulations, ultimately improving public
perception.
Despite divided perceptions, a study by Ren et al. (2020) suggests that drones may be
creating a new agricultural revolution, reaching a market value worth billions of dollars over
coming years. The authors of the study suggest this may be a result of the rapidly changing
environmental and demographic conditions the world is currently experiencing. For instance,
global climate change and growing food insecurity are challenges that drones can directly
contribute towards by improving crop health and yield. Gerard Sylverster, editor of the UN
Food and Agriculture Organization and the International Telecommunication Union’s
research report on “UAVs and agriculture”, states that farmers work to adapt to climate
change and meet other challenges, but drones are expected to help the entire agricultural
enterprises improve efficiency.
In an era of rapid technological innovation, drones are also expected to improve in
accuracy, duration, and applicability. The integration of software offers particularly promising
results that will also improve the usability and costs, making technology more accessible to
stakeholders. This was the objective of drone developing company Drone AG, which has
integrated a number of software applications. Their models now cover a crop scouting
system, compatible with mobile users, as well as crop spraying drones and multispectral
mapping drones. Such innovation will bolster the efficacy of drones as well as provide
farmers with more tools to maintain food security amid a rapidly changing world. (James
Ducker et al., 2022)
Drone manufacturers in India

Garuda Aerospace:
54
Back in 2015, drone manufacturing was still nascent, but Jayaprakash was certain it
will take off. Today, Garuda Aerospace has 750+ clients and close to 30+ types of drones that
offer more than 50 services across 84 cities in India. The turning point, not just for Garuda
Aerospace, but also for the sector was the implementation of a new set of liberalised rules—
Drone Rules, 2021—to help the industry grow faster. According to an estimate by the
Ministry of Civil Aviation, India’s drone sector will achieve a turnover of Rs12,000-15,000
crore by 2026, from about Rs80 crore currently. “Back then, we had two major challenges.
The regulations were archaic—a lot of licences were needed—and second, there wasn’t
enough funding available,” says Jayaprakash. But since 2021, Garuda Aerospace has seen
phenomenal growth—with defence and agriculture being revenue drivers for the company.
Garuda leads the agriculture drone services with their Kisan drone where farmers pay rupees
400 per acre of spraying
(Thakur, Forbes, 2023)
Paras Aerospace
Paras Aerospace, a subsidiary of Paras Defence and Space Technologies Ltd said it
was launching the PARAS.AI (artificial intelligence) drone information technology product
that would enable data processing requirements of powerline, solar, wind, mining sectors and
pipeline inspection work. Paras Aerospace is the only drone company to have indigenous
camera payload manufacturing along with electronics, advanced composite and hardware
capabilities. With this technology there is an improved way created to make the work in
agriculture easier and effort less. (TOI, 2022)
Daksha unmanned system
55
Coromandel intends to soon launch a “drone as a service” model had earlier partnered
with Dhaksha to undertake several pilot programmes of drone based nutrient and crop
protection application. Director have mentioned that drone will be a game changer in
increasing adoption of water-soluble fertilizer, liquid fertilizer, nano fertilizers in addition to
the crop protection products in India. Daksha is the only Indian based company which
produces both batteries operated as well as petrol-based engine drones as Dare added to his
point. (The hindu 2022)
CHAPTER 3
METHOD AND METHODOLOGY
56
Chapter 4
Methods and Methodology
In order to achieve the objectives of the study, an appropriate methodology that describes
sampling design, data collection, and specification of the empirical model and tools of analysis is
necessary. This chapter provides a detailed outline of the methodology followed for the study.
Sampling framework followed for the selection of the study area, selection of respondents, sources
of data and nature of data collection and analytical framework adopted including quantitative tools
employed for the analysis of data are discussed in detail in the following order.
3.1 Choice of the study area
3.2 Sampling framework
3.3 Collection of data
57
Choice of the study area
In Tamil Nādu, 3 districts were taken to collect the data related to this study. Alanganallur,
Madurai east, Madurai west, and Madurai North blocks were taken from the Madurai District and
Ottanchatiram and vedansandur blocks from the Dindugal district and Anthiyur block from Erode
districts were chosen to collect data. The farmers were selected based on the list we obtained from
the officials and personals of Department of the Agriculture and farmers welfare, Tamil Nadu, Aero
crop care pvt limited (Coimbatore) SS Agro care (Madurai). The area cover maximum of different
agricultural field crops. The collected respondent’s location latitude and longitude at villages of
different blocks of the named three districts was tagged using Google Earth Engine, and the
respondent distribution map are given below.
Sample Villages Selected in Madurai District
58
Sample villages selected in Dindigul District
Sample villages selected in Erode district
59
Sample collected at Ottanchathiram Block,Dindigul District
Sample Collected at Vedasandur Block,Dindigul District
60
Sample collected at Anthiyur and Gobichettipalayam Block in Erode District
Sample Collected at Madurai district
Sampling framework
The study is based on the primary data collected from the farm households of the Madurai,
erode and Dindugal district. The districts were select by simple random sampling methods. At the
61
first stage districts were selected which has high number of drone users and in second stage blocks
carrying high numbers of users were selected. A list of all the agricultural households surveyed in
each village was prepared and the households were classified based on their operational landholding
sizes: non-cultivating or landless, marginal (< 1 ha), small (1-2 ha), medium (2-6 ha) and large (> 6
ha). In total 40 households of different farm holding sizes were made including those of non-drone
users also.
Collection of Data
The details of the distribution of sample households are given in Table. The respondents'
primary data was collected using a well-structured and pre-tested interview schedule. The age
information, education, occupation, family details, details of livestock, asset position, cropping
pattern, source of employment, source of irrigation were obtained from the sample respondents.
The sample farmers were contacted through phone calls, and the required primary data was
acquired via interview utilizing a pre-tested interview plan. The study's goals and significance were
briefly communicated to the respondents in order to solicit their cooperation.
Besides primary data, general information such as total population, land utilization pattern,
cropping pattern, agro-climatic condition, rainfall, size of operational land holding, and irrigation
sources related to Tamil Nadu and districts related so from government publications, report other
published materials were collected.
62
S.no No of farmers Land holding
Farmer using drone 20 76.36 Hectares
Farmer not using drone 20 52.60 Hectares
SWOT analysis:
SWOT analysis is a strategic planning and strategic management technique used to help a person
or organization identify Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats related to business
competition or project planning. It is sometimes called as situational assessment or situational
analysis. This technique is designed for use in the preliminary stages of decision – making processes
and can be used as a tool for evaluation of the strategic position of organizations of many kinds. It is
intended to identify the internal and external factors that are favourable and unfavourable to
achieving the objectives of the venture or project. Users of SWOT analysis often ask and answer
questions to generate meaningful information for each category to make the tool useful and identify
their competitive advantage. SWOT has been described as a tried-and-true tool of strategic analysis,
but has also been criticized for its limitations and alternatives have been developed.
Strength:
Strengths describes what an organization excels at and what separates it from the competition.
Strength in other words is defined as key resources, capabilities, assets and partnerships that offer a
competitive advantage over others.
Weakness:
63
Weaknesses stop an organization from performing at its optimum level. There are areas where the
tool needs to improve to remain competitive. Weaknesses in other words is defined as
characteristics such as resources, talent, assets and capabilities that are a disadvantage to others
Opportunities:
Opportunities refer to favourable external factors that could give the tool a competitive advantage.
Opportunities is defined as the external elements that provide opportunities for growth, innovation
and other benefits.
Threats:
Threats refer to factors that have the potential to harm an organization. Threats is defined as
external elements that could damage capabilities, resources or weaken competitive position.
Percentage Analysis:
Percentage analysis is an important domain that helps convert the data into meaningful value
or insights. It primarily consists of quantitative and qualitative data analysis. The percentage is
important in mathematics as well as data analysis. It is represented by the symbol % and a fraction
with 100 as the denominator. It is derived from a Latin word that means “by hundred”. To calculate
the percentage of any number, the number is divided by the whole and multiplied by 100. It is used
in data analysis as it helps in finding information on discrete categories and collating statistical data.
The process of data analysis helps in gaining insight from data. It is the process of inspecting,
narrowing, transforming, and modelling data from a huge amount of information or data. The
percentage is one of the essential components of data analysis, which helps find a value from a huge
amount of data and information. The data is examined, and hence the conclusion is drawn for
expanding knowledge and decision on various subjects. The percentage is used across many domains
and hence is used to express various things.
64
It is a good and important quantifier of financial aspects. It is used in expressing various types of
observable changes or factors like sales, losses, market share, etc. Hence, it helps in converting data
into mathematical values. The calculation of percentages requires understanding and application of
arithmetic. Hence, it helps understand the year-on-year changes and comparisons in the data.
Benefit cost ratio

A benefit–cost ratio is a useful metric in decision making. In the context of repair strategies,
the cost of repair, CR, is deterministic; however, if the purpose of repair is prevention of
failure, then the benefit is uncertain. An appropriate measure of benefit in this case is risk
reduction, and the benefit–cost ratio becomes
BCR=Δ Risk/CR=ΣPC−ΣP′C′/CR,
where the primes indicate the values after repair. This ratio can be further improved by
bringing in consideration of probability weighting and subjective value of cost (Cha and
Ellingwood, 2013).
Partial budget
The partial budget analysis is best adapted to small changes that we consider in the
business. If we analysis two alternatives the analysis does not determine that these two are the most
desirable enterprise for the farm. The budget only indicates that the change will increase decrease or
not change on net income. We then separate the positive and negative effects and list them in
different section of the partial budgeting (Lessley, et al.., 1991).
65
The PB measures the positive and negative effec6of a change in the business. The left
side of PV shows the positive effect on net income including additional income and reduced cost. To
counterbalance this positive effect the right side includes reduced income and additional costs or the
negative effects of the proposed change. (lessley, et al.,1991)
The PB has four categorical parts:
 Additional income
 Reduced cost
 Reduced income
 Additional income
Partial budgeting
Added cost Reduces benefit
What will be added to the total cost What will be lost from the total revenue
Reduces cost Added benefits
What expense will be removed from total What will be added to the new
cost
Total cost Total benefits
Total benefits – Total cost = Net benefits
66
CHAPTER 4
DESCRIPTION OF STUDY AREA
67
CHAPTER 4
Description of Study area
In India, Tamil Nadu is one of the main states in the field of agriculture. Tamil Nadu
agriculture is the greatest overriding sector in the economy of the state. Nearly 70% of the
state’s population is involved in agricultural activities as this one of the major means of
livelihood in Tamil Nadu. Tamil Nadu has occupied an area of 1.3 lakh sq.km with an overall
area of nearly 63 Lakhs hectare for plantation. The primary duty of the government of Tamil
Nadu is to activate stability in the agriculture sector and also rise the sustainability in the
agriculture production of the state. This is done to reach the demand put forth by the growing
population in the food segment in addition to the raw material department in the Agro-based
industries. This will take a toll on the unemployment in the rural areas in Tamil Nadu. The
agriculture in Tamil Nadu has executed a good performance over the years with the help of so
many efficient farmers who are both receptive and responsive to the technological
development announced in the agriculture sector of Tamil Nadu. The agricultural department
68
of Tamil Nadu has decided upon executing various development schemes and generating
innovative technologies to confirm growth in the state’s agriculture.
Agriculture, with its allies’ sectors, is the major source of livelihood in Tamil Nadu.
More than 2/3 of the rural household in the state still depends primarily on agriculture for
their sustenance with 93% of farmers being small and marginal. The welfare and wellbeing of
the state’s population mostly depend either directly or indirectly on the fortunes of
agriculture. Moreover, the key responsibility of the state government is to ensure stability in
agriculture sector and sustainability in agricultural production of the state.
The government of Tamil Nadu is taking a plethora of sound policies and
revolutionary strategies to give impetus to agriculture by bringing in various reforms and
crop-specific, soil specific, season-specific, climate-specific, farm-specific approaches in
agriculture which is beleaguered by enigmatic weather, uncertainty in rainfall, slumping land
area, plummeting water resources, deteriorating soil fertility, unrestrainable pest and diseases,
increases costs of critical inputs, difficulty in the horizontal expanse of labour scarcity, land
resources and vacillating market prices.
The major soil groups of Tamil Nadu are red soils, Black soils, Laterite soils and
coastal soils. The red soils are further classified as:
 Red loamy
 Red sterile
 Red-sandy
 Thin red
 Deep red loamy soils
The Tamil Nadu climate receives an annual rainfall of about 987mm with its extreme
ends being about 317.4mm-1890.5mm. The year 2021 broke previous records with annual
69
precipitation of 613mm in the state and the capital received precipitation of 1,121mm. The
major portion (50%) of this rainfall comes from the retreating monsoon (October, November,
December) whereas the Southwest monsoon contributes to 34% of the precipitation of the
state.
South West North-East

Winter Summer Annual Rainfall
District Monsoon Monsoon
A N A N A N A N A N %D
Tamil Nādu 10.0 27.8 75.8 126.5 424.4 341.9 474.4 448.0 984.6 944.2 4
Source: Season and crop report, DES, Chennai
Marketed water scarcity, the need for a shift and diversification from the current
concentration of cultivation from water-intensive crop such as rice and sugarcane to more
nutritious but less water consuming crop such as pulses, oilseeds, millets and so on in terms
of total irrigated land.
Tamil Nadu Agricultural has taken up different types of programs to set up
agricultural production along with improving the economic status of the cultivation sector.
These areas listed below;
o Intensive integrated farming system
Intensive integrated farming system involves intensive use of resources of the farm.
Intensification is based on techniques which are knowledge based rather than capital
intensive based. The inputs are used are biological. This is brought about through integrated
farming involving animal husbandry, fisheries and agroforestry. This provides scope for
organic recycling. On farm and off farm employment can then be linked in a symbiotic
manner.
70
o Intensive Subsistence Farming
The practice of growing food grains for self-consumption on a small scale of arable land
is called subsistence agriculture. The majority of the farmers in Tamil Nadu follow this
system depending on the nature and utilization of irrigation sources the farming system can
be classified as follows,
 Subsistence Farming (Nanjai Agriculture)
 Crop Farming (Punjai Agriculture)
 Irrigated agriculture (Neerpaasana Agriculture)
o Massive wasteland development programme
o Extensive watershed development activities
o Water management through micro irrigation system
o Organic farming
o Soil health improvement through Bio-fertilizer with green manuring
o Adoption of integrated nutrient management and integrated pest management technologies
The major crop sown in Tamil Nadu are rice, jowar, maize, bajra, ragi and pulses.
Some other crop that are highly cultivated in the regions of Tamil Nadu are tea, coffee,
sugarcane, cotton, and coconut. Tamil Nadu has also gained an admirable status in the
horticultural sector in its agricultural department. The horticultural products of Tamil Nadu
include oilseed crops and cash crops. Mangoes Bananas are cash crops while sesame,
groundnut, and sunflower are oilseed crops. In Tamil Nadu, paddy is the most leading crop
and is found in 3 kindly namely Thaladi, Kuruvai and samba that varies from season to
season. Wells and river are the major sources of irrigation. Agriculture in Tamil Nadu
possesses a jatropha plant that has Bio-diesel policy which gives away the wasteland of the
Tamil Nadu state to the farmers for cropping. Tamil Nadu is widely popular for the largest
71
producer of agricultural products in India. Tamil Nadu accounts for 6% of vegetables and
10% in fruit production in India. Mango and banana are the leading fruit crops in Tamil Nadu
accounting for over 87% of the total fruit production in the state. The main vegetables grown
are tapioca, onion, tomato, drumstick and brinjal.
Major schemes operated by Department of Horticulture and plantation crops in Tamil Nadu
are, Advanced and innovative methods are given to horticultural farmers through several
schemes to improve the productivity of almost all horticulture crops. Tamil Nadu state with 7
Agro-climatic conditions and varied soil types is better suited for the production of spices,
fruits, vegetables, flowers, plantation crops, medicinal implementing some development
schemes and also through the propagation of relevant technologies to step up the production.
The administration in Tamil Nadu State is offering assistance under the Agricultural
mechanization program. Accordingly, aids in purchasing a variety of machines namely power
tiller, rotavator, seed drill, paddy trans-planter, fertilizer drill, zero till seed, bund former and
power sprayer. Also, it also assists to buy machines that are operated by tractor- straw baler,
brush cutter and power weeder.
However, it provides 50 % and 40 % subsidy to SC/ST and General farmers
respectively. Moreover, the farmer is given the option to select the machinery of their
choices. Accordingly, the government gives Rs 30.75 lakhs for supporting the initiative.
and aromatic plants. Doubling the production Tamil Nadu. The Horticulture Department has
taken in Horticulture by
Agro climatic Zones in Tamil Nadu
SI.
Agro Climatic Zones Districts Covered Soil type
No
1 North Eastern Zone

Kancheepuram, Tiruvallur, Cuddalore, Red sandy loam,
72
SI.
Agro Climatic Zones Districts Covered Soil type
No
Vellore, Villupuram and clay, saline coastal
Tirunvannamalai alluvium
Non-calcareous Red,
Dharmapuri, Krishnagiri, Salem and Non-Calcareous

2 North Western Zone
Namakkal (Part) Brown, Calcareous
Black
Erode, Coimbatore, Tiruppur, Theni,
3 Western Zone Karur (part), Namakkal (part), Dindigul, Red loamy, Black
Perambalur and Ariyalur (part)
Thanjavur, Nagapattinam, Tiruvarur,

Red loamy,
4 Cauvery Delta Zone Trichy and parts of - Karur, Ariyalur,
Alluvium
Pudukkottai and Cuddalore
Madurai, Sivagangai, Ramanathapuram, Coastal Alluvium,
5 Southern Zone Virudhunagar, Tirunelveli and black, Red sandy
Thoothukudi soil, Deep red soil
Saline Coastal,
6 High Rainfall Zone Kanyakumari Alluvium, Deep Red
loam
7 Hilly Zone The Nilgiris and Kodaikanal (Dindigul) Lateritic soil
Cropping pattern
73
The cropping pattern in Tamil Nadu has undergone a significant shift from seasonal food
crops to commercial crops during the last decade. Changes in cropping patterns, from
seasonal farm crops to commercial crops, have significant consequences for labour demand.
The seasonal crops create peak labour demand during sowing/planting and harvesting
seasons. In the intervening period also, labour is required for crop maintenance of the crops.
The demand for labour thus high but seasonal. Commercial crops, on the other hand, only
create a demand for labour during the first few years. Under the new commercial crop
production pattern, the labour displaced by the reduction in the area of seasonal crops may
not be properly used.
The state Tamil Nadu has witnessed a shift in cropping pattern towards horticulture.
The sample size of the study was 120 farmers. However, the shift in cropping pattern towards
horticulture started during the 21st century. It was observed from the study nearly one-fifth
(20.84%) of the farmers chosen Coconut as the sole crop in the place of Pulses (Field
bean/Cowpea/Horse gram + Field bean-Mochai) – Maize/ Sorghum + Sugarcane + Fodder
crops during 2016-17. Twenty-two farmers cultivated Coconut + Vegetables during 2016-17
yet, these same farmers had the cropping pattern of Sugarcane/Maize/ Sorghum + Pulses
(Horse gram + Bengal Gram/Cowpea/Red gram/Green gram/Field bean)/Cotton/ Paddy
during 1999-2000. The area under horticulture increased to more than three-fifths (67.35%)
of the total area among the farmers during 2009-10 (After Shift). However, the area (4.50%)
of horticulture was very less during 1999-2000 (Before Shift) when compared to the area
(87.99%) of agriculture to the total area. (2019, Vincet Abhraham, A Study on the Shift in
Cropping Pattern from Agriculture to Horticulture in Coimbatore District, Tamil Nadu, India)
74
Source: Growth trend of horticulture area among the farmers in the study area
Policy notes 2022-2023: Dept of Agriculture and farmer welfare
Land utilization pattern in Tamil Nadu:
Land utilization patterns in general specifies how the land area is put under various
uses. Land as a scarce resource is to be managed effectively. The state has a geographical area
of 13033116 ha., 36 per cent in which is net sown area in 2019-20 followed by 16 per cent for
non-agricultural use, 20 per cent constitute a current and other fallow land, 16 per cent forest
and hill areas.
75
% Decadal
Year 2010 2019
Change
Geographical Area 13033116 13033116 0.00

2125475 2156574
Forests 1.46
(16.31) (16.55)
2177034 2203091
Area Under Non-Agricultural Uses 1.20
(16.70) (16.90)
489253 457414
Barren and Unculturable Land -6.51
(3.75) (3.51)
109568 107673
Permanent Pasture and Other Grazing Land -1.73
(0.84) (0.83)
Land Under Misc. Tree Crops and Groves not Included in 252080 221477
-12.14
Net Area Sown (1.93) (1.70)
330938 321968
Culturable Waste Land -2.71
(2.54) (2.47)
1580173 1906243
Fallow Lands Other Than Current Fallows 20.64
(12.12) (14.63)
1014937 920379
Current Fallow -9.32
(7.79) (7.06)
4953658 4738297
Net Area Sown -4.35
(38.01) (36.36)
Cropped Area 5752664 5942134 3.29
Area Sown More Than Once 799006 1203837 50.67
(Percentages to the respective geographical area are shown in parentheses)
Chemical consumption of Tamil Nadu:
Tamil Nadu data was reported at 1,129.590 Ton th in 2022. This records an increase from the
previous number of 1,120.900 Ton th

for 2021. Chemical Fertilizers: NPK Consumption:
Tamil Nadu data is updated yearly, averaging 1,014.800 Ton th from Mar 2001 to 2022, with
21 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 1,265.220 Ton th in 2009 and a record
low of 713.100 Ton th

in 2004. Chemical Fertilizers: NPK Consumption: Tamil Nadu data
76
remains active status in CEIC and is reported by Directorate of Economics and Statistics,
Department of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare.
usage in tonnes
1400
1200
1000
800
weight
600
400
200
0
2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021
years
Source: WWW.CEICDATA.COM | Directorate of Economics and statistics, department of Agriculture and farmers welfare
Change in labour force in Tamil Nadu:
From the table we can see the data of the agriculture labours being compared that of
cultivators. This data is being obtained from the Agricultural Statistics at a Glance 2022
which was made by the Government of India Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare
Department of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare Economics & Statistics Division.
77
States Total / Cultiv Agricultu Male Male Female Female
Urban / ators ral Cultivator Agricultur Cultivator Agricultur
Rural (Main Labour s (Main al Labour s (Main al Labour
and (Main and (Main and and (Main and
Margi and Marginal) Marginal) Marginal) Marginal)
nal) Marginal)
Rural 58702 1083003 478881 690294 108148 392709
9
Tamil
Urban 83224 239847 68025 167701 15199 72146
Nadu
Total 42484 9606547 2732479 4842707 1515978 4763840
57
Source: Agricultural statistics at a glance 2022
18% 14%
45% 26%
56%
31%
4%
5%
Total labour population in 2001 Total labour population in 2011
Cultivators Agricultural Labourers Workers in Household Industries Other Workers
Area description of sample districts
Madurai
Madurai is located between 9.93 North longitude and 78.12 East latitude. The city lies at
an altitude of 330 feet or 101 meters above sea level. This religious town in Tamil Nādu stretches
over an area of 22.6 square kilometres. Madurai is a land locked city and is located in the
78
vicinity of a number of famous cities. Madurai is located at south central part of Tamil Nadu.
Madurai district is having administrative division of 11 taluks and 13 blocks. The city of
Madurai lies on the flat and fertile plains of the river Vaigai, which runs in the northwest-
southeast direction through the city, dividing it into two almost equal halves. The land in and
around Madurai is utilised largely for agricultural activities. Paddy, Millet, Pulses, Cotton are the
major crops cultivated in Madurai District. Periyar – Vaigai canal is the main source of irrigation
Dindigul
Dindigul Agricultural District is headed by Joint Director of Agriculture. Dindigul
Agricultural District consists of five Agricultural Divisions, namely Dindigul, Natham,
Nilakottai, Palani and Vedasandur. Each Agricultural Division is headed by an Assistant Director
of Agriculture. There are 13 Agricultural Development Officers and 28 Agricultural Extension
Centres in Dindigul District. Major horticulture crops cultivated are, fruits crops like banana,
sapota, guava and acid lime, vegetables like tomato, brinjal, bhendi, chillies, beans and cabbage,
flowers like jasmine, pitchi, crossandra, nerium, chrysanthemum, tagetus, gomphrena and tube
rose and medicinal plants like Gloriosa However upper Palani is recorded low temperature and
fairly heavy rainfall. In the plains the maximum and minimum temperature recorded are 37.5’C
and 19.7’C in the hill stations 20.6’C and 7.7’C respectively. Dindigul District is located between
10.05′ and 10.9′ North latitude and 77.30′ and 78.20′ East longitude.
Erode
Erode District is well developed in Agriculture. Agriculture and allied activities provide
employment to the major chunk of population. The total area brought under food crop production
is 1.84 lakh hectares (during 1999-2000) in this district. The total cropped area is 3.57 hectares
constituting 5.48% of the state’s total cropped area. The major crops in this district are Rice,
79
Groundnut, Sugarcane, Gingelly, Turmeric, Jowar, Ragi, Coconut, Cotton, Horse gram, Tobacco,
Banana, and Tapioca etc. The cropping intensity is 1.15. Cultivable area is 61.7% of the total
geographical area of the district. Total area covered under Rice, Groundnut, Sugarcane, Gingelly,
Turmeric, Jowar, Ragi, Coconut, Cotton, Horse gram, green gram, Maize, Tobacco, Tapioca and
Fruit crops is 2.52 lakh hectares. It contributes 71% of the total cropped area of the district
giving rich scope for the growth and development of the food products, textile products and
other agro based industries in this district.
80
CHAPTER 5
FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION
CHAPTER 5
FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION
The study was conducted as per the research methodology described in the CHAPTER 3.
The data were collected from the farmer by phone interview with the help of interview
81
schedule. The collected data were tabulated and analysed in the light of the objective of the
study. The findings were presented with discussion under the following headings
They are:
1. SWOT analysis for Agricultural drones
2. Percentage Analysis on various classes
a. Age of the farmers
b. Land holding and size of the farmer
c. Crop cultivated
d. Component used in spraying
e. Gross cultivated area
f. Drone used gross cultivated area
3. Benefit Cost Ratio
a. Rice
b. Maize
c. Onion
4. Partial budgeting
a. Rice
b. Maize
SWOT analysis for Agricultural drones:
SWOT analysis is being applied to the agricultural drones for the situational assessment
and for project planning. The SWOT analysis is of follows:
82
Strengths:
 Agricultural drones are providing real time data that enables farmers to make
informed decisions regarding the use of farm inputs.
 Drone imagery can be used to give an accurate estimate of loss.
 It helps to increase efficiency in certain aspects of the farming process, from crop
monitoring to planting, livestock management, crop spraying, irrigation mapping and
more.
 They assist farmers in maximizing their harvest by detecting problems early and
managing the crops by using specific cameras to Detect pests and water shortages
 Drones have better image resolution than aerial images of a field from satellite or
manned aircraft.
Weaknesses:
 Flying a drone is a skill and regulators requires trained and certified individuals to
operate a drone.
 Payload and the range of flights can be a weakness of a drone as the payload varies
between 2 and 4 kg
 Drone components during flights can fall to result in a crash that may harm people or
damage property.
 Agricultural drones might have technical difficulties and requires improvement on
several components to mitigate the weakness
 Drone technology may lead to loss of jobs for manual labourers of some farmers.
Opportunities:
 Drone technology promises to foster innovations that will disrupt existing industries.
83
 Well-developed competitive private agencies
 Drone technology provides Opportunity to youth to engage in Drone service
provisions to farmers in rural areas.
 The adoption of drone by farmers promises to bring about Precision Agriculture (PA)
where resources are used efficiently to help improve productivity.
 Sponsorship by government
Threats:
 Growing perceptions of drone’s badness among farmers
 If they fall in case of component failure on to people and properties causing enormous
injuries and damages.
 A drone’s system not properly secured during a flight can be hacked into by
individuals with disruptive mindsets.
 Irresponsible drone owners have been a nuisance in cases related to accidents that
interferes with emergency responders.
 Drones can also interfere in controlled airspace causing confusions for manned
aircraft.
Percentage Analysis
84
To have a clear understanding about the farmer’s primary data collected. These
farmers are classified into different categories and classes. These classes are analysed on
percentage basis. Hence, it was studied and presented in table and bar graph model below
Table 1: Percentage Analysis of Farmers Age Group

Categories Drone Farmers (20) Others (20)
Age No % No %
<45 12 60 5 25
>45 8 40 15 75
Percentage Analysis of Farmers Age Group

80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
<45 >45
Drone Farmers(20) % Others (20) %
It is evident from the graph that most of the farmers below the age category of 45 uses drone
the most. Because they are the group of people who participate in the training activity
conducted by the extension department. These people either have professional background or
media knowledge.
Table 2: Percentage Analysis of Farm Size
85
Drone Farmers (20) Other Farmers (20)
Farm Size No % No %
Marginal 1 5 2 10
Small 5 25 8 40
Medium 13 65 10 50
Large 1 5 0 0
Percentage analysis of farm size

70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
marginal small medium large
drone farmers(20) % other farmers(20) %
From the above graph and table, it can be inferred that among the farmers surveyed by our
group, majority of the medium farmers employ drone in their field. 65% of the medium
farmer use drone technology which attributes to the fact of labor shortage. With the land
holding of more than 2 ha of land, it becomes difficult to spray the needed components within
the stipulated periodicity. Hence the medium farmers approach drone method of spraying for
their field when compared with marginal and small farmers.
Table 3: Percentage Analysis of Crops Grown
86
Category No % No %
Cereals 13 65 7 35
Pulses 0 0 4 20
Other crops 7 35 9 45
Percentage Analysis of crops grown

70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
cereals pulses other crops
drone farmers(20) % other farmers (20) %
From the above graph, it is inferred that most of the farmers using drone are preferring
cereals than pulses. In 20 farmers 65% of the farmers using drone are cultivating cereals like
paddy and maize. Rest 35% of the farmers using drone are cultivating other crops such as
Banana, Lemon, Moringa.
Table 4: Percentage Analysis of Components Used in Spraying
87
No % No %
Cereals 13 65 7 35
Pulses 0 0 4 20
Other crops 7 35 9 45
Percentage Analysis of components used in spraying

90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
pesticide fungicide fertilizers micronutrient
Drone farmers(20) % Other farmers(20) %
It is distinct from the percentage analysis that the pesticides are the components sprayed
mostly using drone. This proves the statement that Drones help save 95% of water used for
spraying pesticides or insecticides. It is enough if 150-200ml of pesticide or insecticide is
mixed with 8 L of water. Around 73% of drone utilization is used to sprayed pesticides. For
the fertilizers mostly nano urea is sprayed over other water-soluble fertilizers.
Table 5: Percentage Analysis of Gross Cropped Area Under Drone
88
S.NO. Gross Area GCA under Drone % Of GCA under Drone
1101 2.83 1.6 56.53710247

1102 2.83 2.83 100
1103 3.64 2.83 77.74725275
2101 3.2 1.6 50
2102 6 3 50
2103 2.4 2.4 100
2104 2.02 2 99
2105 2.4 2.4 100
2106 1.6 1.6 100
2107 1.6 1.6 100
2108 3.64 3.64 100
2109 10 1.2 12
2110 1.6 0.6 37.5
3101 2.4 2 83.3
3102 0.9 0.9 100
4101 4.2 4.2 100
4102 4 4 100
2201 4 2 50
1201 1.6 0.4 25
4103 1.4 1.4 100
Out of 20 farmers using drone total gross cultivated area is 62.26 ha and they used
drone only in about 42 ha of their land holding. From the table we can say only 10 of the
farmers have used drone in their full land holding
Table 6: Percentage Analysis based on the land holdings of farmers using drone
Drone Farmers (20)
89
Land holding sprayed in ha No %
>2 ha 11 55
<2 ha 9 45
Farmers using drone in land

60
50
40
No.of farming
30
20
10
0
>2 <2
land holdining in ha
From the above graph and table 6, it is observed that about 55% of drone using farmers have
used drone land holdings more than 2 hectares and 45% farmers have used in area less than 2
hectares.
Benefit Cost Ratio
Table 7: Cost of Cultivation For 1 acre – Paddy
90
S.NO Particulars Using Drone Using Sprayer
Cost (in Rs) Cost (in Rs)
1. Ploughing 5000 5000
2. Seed Cost + Sowing 2200 2200
3. Fertilizers + Spray 3500 3500
4. Herbicide 1500 1500
5. Plant Protection Chemicals +Spray 1000 1200
6. Harvesting 3600 3600
7. Cost Of Cultivation 16,800 17,000
8. Yield 1809 kg 1675 kg
9. Gross Income 37,800 35,000
10 Benefit Cost Ratio 2.2 2.0
From the table 7, comparison of the rice cultivation using drone and using
conventional spraying. Benefit cost ratio for the rice using drone (2.2) is much better than the
one using sprayer (2.0). This is obtained by increase in yield due to efficient and equal
spreading of the insecticides.
Table 8: Cost of Cultivation for 1 acre – Maize

S. No Particulars Using drone Using Sprayer
Cost (in Rs) Cost (in Rs)
1. Ploughing 4000 4000
2. Seed Cost+ Sowing 8400 8400
3. Fertilizers+ Spray 10320 10320
4. Herbicide 1000 1000
5. Plant Protection Chemicals +Spray 1900 2000
7. Cost Of Cultivation 30120 30220
8. Yield 3000 kg 2800kg
9. Gross Income. 54000 50400
10. Benefit Cost Ratio 1.7 1.6
Table 9: Cost of Cultivation for 1 acre – Onion

S. Particulars Using drone Using Sprayer
NO.
91
Cost (in Rs.) Cost (in Rs.)
1. Land Preparation 8000 8000
2. FYM 6000 6000
3. Seeds 6000 6000
4. Transplanting 2000 2000
5. Irrigation 5000 5000
6. Fertilizers 5000 5000
7. Plant Protection Chemicals 950 1100
8. Weeding 3000 3000
9. Herbicide Application 1500 1500
11. Cost of Cultivation 42950 43100
12. Yield 7000 kg 6700
13. Gross Income 105000 100500
14. Benefit Cost Ratio 2.4 2.3
As same as that of table 7, table 8 and table 9 shows the comparison between the
cultivation of maize and onion respectively using drone and using conventional spraying.
Benefit cost ratio for the rice using drone (1.7 and 2.4) is much better than the one using
sprayer (1.6 and 2.3) in maize and onion respectively. This is obtained by increase in yield
due to efficient and equal spreading of the insecticides.
Partial budgeting for paddy when drone technology is applied:
Table 10
92
Particulars Drone farmer Non drone farmer
Ploughing Rs.5000 Rs.5000
Seed cost + sowing Rs.3500 Rs.3500
Fertilizer + spraying cost Rs.3500 Rs.3500
Herbicides Rs.3600 Rs.3600
Pesticide+ spraying cost Rs.1000 Rs.1200
Drone rental cost + operator cost Rs.1000
Labour cost Rs.700
Harvesting Rs.3600 Rs.3600
Cost of cultivation Rs.16800 Rs.17000
Yield 1809 kg 1675 kg
Yield in Rs. Rs.37800 Rs.35000
Table 11: Partial budgeting for Paddy
Debit (A) Credit (B)
Added cost: Reduced cost:
Operator cost – Rs.500 Spraying cost- Rs.200
Drone rental cost - Rs.500 Labour charge – Rs.700
Reduced returns: Added returns:
134 kg (2 bags) of yield= 2×1400 (Rs. 2800)
Total A = Rs.1000 Total B = Rs. 3500
Partial budgeting for Maize using drone technology:
Table 12:
93
Particulars Drone farmer Non drone farmer
Ploughing Rs. 4000 Rs.4000
Seed cost + sowing Rs.13800 Rs.13800
Fertilizers + spray Rs.5750 Rs.5750
Herbicide Rs.1000 Rs.1000
Plant protection chemicals + spray Rs. 1900 Rs.2000
Drone rental cost + operator cost Rs.1250
Harvesting Rs.5200 Rs.5200
Cost of cultivation Rs.31650 Rs.31750
Yield Rs.3400kg Rs.3200 kg
Table 13: Partial budgeting for Maize
Debit (A) Credit (B)
Added cost: Reduced cost:
Operator cost – Rs.750 Spraying cost – Rs.200
Drone rental cost – Rs.500 Labour charge – Rs.700
Reduced returns Added returns:
400 kg × Rs.21 = Rs.8400
Total A = Rs.1250 Total B = Rs.9300
From table 11, the change in net income because of shifting to drone spraying using partial
budgeting on rice cultivation is (Credit (B)-Debit(A)) = 3500-1000 = Rs.2,500. Similarly,
94
from the table 13, the change in net income because of shifting to drone spraying using
partial budgeting in maize cultivation is (B – A) = 9300-1250 = Rs.8050
95
CHAPTER 6
SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION
CHAPTER 6
96
SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION
Summary is the final stage of research study on the basis of findings and discussion,
the researcher puts forwards some studied suggestions for consideration and action by the
appropriate authority. It is very important if the purpose of the study is to improve the life of
farmer.
With the increase in the world population there is an increased need for the food
among the individuals of the world. This puts up pressure on the available natural resources
for the use of agriculture. To avoid such pressure, precise usage of the resource is must.
Drone being the new improved technological advancement which made its intro into the
agriculture. There is need to study the aspect of drone in operation of spraying.
Drone is being used in the operation of spraying fertilizers, insecticides, fungicides,
biofertilizers and plant growth regulators. This spraying process requires less water compared
to conventional hand sprayer or power sprayer. The water requirement is about 150 to 200 ml
for spray. The concentration of the chemical reaching the plant is also high and equal
spreading of the solution is ensured. This helps in high efficiency in the action of the
chemical in the crop on which spraying is done.
The drone usage also significantly reduces the labour cost spent on spraying. As
discussed, earlier population of agriculture labour decreases with increase in the improvement
in their educational status, migration of rural population from villages to urban settlement to
find better life style, medical services or high paid jobs and shifting of labour to other sectors
of works like construction workers. Keeping this as a concern drone provide better support
with eliminating the requirement of long work hour of men or women for spraying as well as
monitoring.
97
From the primary data collected from the farmers through phone call using the pre
tested questionnaire many analyses have been carried out including percentage analysis,
benefit cost ratio, partial budgeting and SWOT analysis.
Through the SWOT analysis, the strength of the drone in the field of agriculture is
obtained which includes the increased accuracy in the inspection of pest and diseases with the
help of high clarity cameras, reduced labour cost and reduced amount of chemicals required.
Weakness includes the requirement of experts to operate and maintenance of the drone.
Opportunity of drone collections as increasing and fast-growing field of technology with less
competitive private firms and industries. Threats are minimum but it has to be considered as
it may cause severe issues in future which is mis consumption of the idea about drone in the
mind of the farmers.
From the study of various research papers by various scientist it shows that drone
used for spraying efficiently saves large quantity of water. As discussed in the area
description the labours available for the agriculture have gradually reduced from 31% in 2001
to 26% in 2011. With this reduction there is a gradual increase in the use of the chemicals
such as fertilizers, pesticides, plant growth regulators and biofertilizers etc., in the field
through the spraying. This both factors can be taken in to the account to conclude that the
drone has high scope in the field of agriculture. Even though the drone cover not more than
5% in the spraying sector it will show a better increase in the future time.
Of the total 40 farmers have surveyed from 3 districts of Tamil Nadu. 20 farmers have
used drone for spraying. In this pesticide users carry the major portion around 75% and
followed by fungicide users 20%. They also use drone in spraying liquid fertilizers and
micronutrients in minor quantities.
98
By accessing the age of the farmers those below the age group of 45 have adopted the
technology of the drone in spraying. And for those who are not using the drone most of them
belong to the age group of above 45 this state that they are more resilient to the change in the
technology and they are mostly oriented with the traditional technique of spraying.
While categorising the farmers according to the land holding the majority of the drone
users belong to the medium farmers group and followed by small and large. This is because
most of the extension agents, farmer producer organization and non-governmental
organizations focus mainly on the improvement of the medium and small-scale farmers.
With respect to crops cereals like rice and maize is the main crop in which drone is
used for spraying. Out of the farmers of 20 numbers none have carried out drone spraying in
the pulses. By looking into the farmers of horticultural crops the spraying is done on crops
like moringa, onion and lemon.
Calculations are carried out to compare the economics of the crops including maize
rice and onion for those who utilize the service of drone for spraying and those who are not.
It is evident that when the drone is used for spraying there is reduction in the labour cost and
there is a slight increase in the yield due to efficient and equal spraying of the chemicals over
the field. In Rice the benefit cost ratio obtained when normal sprayer is used was 2.0 but
when drone was used with the above told reasons there was an increase in benefit cost ratio
up to 2.2. similarly, the maize also provided 1.7 and 1.6 BCR when normal and drone spray is
used respectively.
Partial budgeting made for drone spraying in rice and maize provided added net return
of about Rs.2,500 and Rs. 8,050 respectively. The added cost is only on the operator cost and
tank cost. There is no reduced return as no yield reducing factor is lost and there is no
reduction in yield. Added return is less as just a little quantity is only extra to the total yield
99
Conclusion:
Drone is being used in various activities in agriculture like monitoring, surveying and
mainly spraying. In Tamil Nadu, spraying using drone is mainly done for the chemicals like
pesticides, fungicides, micronutrients and biofertilizers. With reduction in agricultural labour
and increase in chemical supplements required for spraying new alternative like drone is
considered to make cultivation of crops efficient. From the review of literatures, it is clear
that drone conserves water by 80 to 90% than normal sprayer. And as the chemicals used are
less in quantity there is less residual effect made in the soil.
Adoption of the new technology is still residing in the young farmer group where
there should be active role of dissemination of information in more simple manner to make
the older farmers to take up the new technology. Drone provide easier reach over large area in
both horticulture and agricultural crops. New chemicals and nozzle types will make the
farmers to widen the range of the crops in which drone spraying is used. Extension agents,
FPO officials and NGO operatives concentrate mostly in small and marginal farmers to make
them take up the new innovation actively by providing the advantage details to them.
Creation of more liquid based fertilizers and water-soluble chemicals which are more suitable
for drones will increase the application of drone in agriculture.
By studying various economics of agricultural crops like paddy maize and
horticultural crop like onion it is evident that drone spray has economical advantage over that
of normal hand sprayer. With this study only small portion of farmers have been covered and
large-scale study would provide better insight of the technology in agriculture.
100
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Drone Technology in Agriculture: Economic and Environment Implications of Drone Spraying

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CHAPTER 1

intensification, through the adoption of innovative farming practices and technologies,

quantity. The list of improved technological implements in agriculture for transportation

and central warehouses combined with cold storage.

The application of drone in agriculture is one of the most important innovations as

already broken through rigid traditional barriers in industries otherwise impenetrable to

Increasing work efficiency and productivity, decreasing workload and production

adoption, usage expansion across industries, and global awareness.

Agriculture drones are spray drone-enhanced unmanned aerial vehicles designed to

The abbreviation of DRONE is Dynamic Remotely Operated Navigation Equipment. A UAV

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles: A Review. Arab J Sci Eng)

quickly identify problems.

however, breakthroughs in drone technology are expected to fuel agriculture drone

market growth in the coming years.

only the ripe ones.

Rs 10 lakh. The Indian government is now providing subsidies to various agricultural

been made under the guidelines of sub-mission on agricultural mechanization being

minimise dependence on labour or fast-track the process.

and much more. AI can change the face of agriculture in India.

problem is the downwash of chemicals. Drone-aided dispensation of chemicals is heavily

by the drone aerodynamics during the process of lifting,” said Kestur.

It is enough if 150-200 ml of pesticide or insecticide is mixed in 8 Liters of water. This is

easy to monitor the functioning of drones, be it spraying fertilizers, insecticides or pesticides.

challenges to fully utilising drones in agriculture. According to a published report by the

Indian Council of Agricultural Research’s (ICAR) National Institute of Abiotic Stress

the national laws regarding using drones for specific uses.

contingency fund to farmers to hire drones from CHCs.

Apart from agriculture, drone plays an important improvement in the following

rooftops or bridges, enhancing efficiency and reducing risks.

associated with traditional delivery methods.

Furthermore, drones have found applications in the entertainment industry, enabling

immersive experiences in virtual reality.

and marginal farmers of Tamil Nadu.

Objectives of the studies

 To access the drone technology applications in agriculture.

 To study the economics of drone-based spraying of agricultural inputs in different

 To explore the potential of drone usage in agriculture on production and marketing

Limitation of the studies

The study is organized under the following six chapters.

CHAPTER 1 Introduction Explain the importance of the topic,

objectives, scope and limitation of the

CHAPTER 2 Review of Literature Deals with the review of relevant

literature in line with the objectives of the

CHAPTER 3 Research methodology Describes the research design, the study

area, measurement of independent and

dependent variable, method of data

collection and statistical tools used.

CHAPTER 4 Description of study area Describes the general aspects of the

sample area including cropping pattern,

CHAPTER 5 Findings and discussions Discussion of the result of the study to

draw specific interferences.

salient findings, explain the implication

based on the results of the study.

(Galvan et al., 2008)

Need of Technologies in Agriculture:

expensive, time-saving, and captures high-resolution images in a non-destructive way. (Bilani

Incorporating novel technologies has been identified as a promising solution to address

Kaur, 2019) have emerged as a result of such debates.

In addition to the above-mentioned technologies, remote sensing has been considered a

is measured at a distance without touching it by using various remote sensing platforms

insurance claims, mining, entertainment, telecommunication, and transport sector, etc.

As reported by Kurkute et al., 2018 Association of Unmanned Aerial Systems

market of Agriculture. According to World Health Organization (WHO) it is estimated about