Local youth develop cheaper, smarter kisan drone
The new version of the kisan drone can be programmed to carry 10 liters of insecticide and pesticides and spray it over a circumference of 3 km.
The government is promoting the use of ‘Kisan Drone’ for crop assessment, digitization of land records, and spraying of pesticides and nutrients for which provision has also been made in the Union Budget, Union Minister of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Narendra Singh Tomar said today.
Modernisation of the country’s agricultural sector was high on the agenda of the government, led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, he said inaugurating a conference on “Promoting Kisan Drones: Issues, Challenges and the Way Ahead” organised as part of ”Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav”. He said the use of drones in agricultural activities was in the larger interest of the farmers.
Tomar said the government was promoting the use of drones as it reduced the cost and increased the income of farmers. For promoting the use of ”Kisan Drones”, the government was providing 50 per cent or a maximum Rs. 5 lakh subsidy to SC-ST, small and marginal, women and farmers of the North-eastern states to buy drones.
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For other farmers, financial assistance would be given up to 40 per cent or a maximum Rs. 4 lakh, the minister added.
In order to provide agricultural services through drone application, financial assistance @ 40 per cent of the basic cost of the drone and its attachments or Rs.4 lakh, whichever was less, was also provided for drone purchase by existing and new Custom Hiring Centers (CHCs) under the cooperative society of farmers, farmers’ producer organizations and rural entrepreneurs, Tomar said.
The government was also helping farmers access modern technology to improve the efficiency of inputs such as seeds, fertilizers and irrigation, he added.
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