Farmers in Haveri employ drones to spray nano urea

Haveri: Farmers in many villages across Haveri district appear to be growing more tech-savvy with each passing year. Amid the push for the use of nano urea, a liquid form of the widely-used fertiliser, by the department of agriculture, farmers have decided to utilise drones to spray the same on their fields. One such company offering the farmers this invaluable service is the Multiplex Drone Pvt Ltd, which is offering drones to farmers on rent.It takes around seven to eight minutes to spray the fertiliser across one acre, thereby saving farmers a considerable amount of time, not to mention the cost of labour saved. In a day, a drone can spray nano urea across 40 acres, and thus far, Multiplex drones have covered 8,000 acres of farms across Haveri district.
Solid urea costs Rs 270 per kg, while a 500-ml bottle of nano urea is priced at Rs 240. Officials in the department of agriculture have told farmers that they are to mix water with nano urea before spraying the fertiliser on their fields.
Head of sales at Multiplex Drones Pvt Ltd, Manish S admitted to a spike in demand for the use of drones from farmers in 2022 compared to the previous year. Enumerating the advantages of employing a drone over the more conventional means of spraying fertilisers, Manish said, “While one would need up to 15 tanks — each tank contains 9.5l of nano urea and 500ml water — of nano urea for one acre if it were sprayed manually, a drone can cover the same area with just 10 tanks of the fertiliser. The operator charges around Rs 650 to spray nano urea across an acre. Farmers are saving both time and money. Demand was so high at one time that we were unable to supply drones to a few farmers.”
Joint director of department of agriculture, Haveri, Manjunath said that the use of nano urea had been growing among the farmers in the district. “Nano urea is produced by the Indian Farmers’ Fertiliser Cooperative Ltd. This year, more than 75,000 bottles of nano urea have been sold in Haveri. The use of drones to spray nano urea too has proven more beneficial, and many farmers in the district have already taken to this advanced method,” Manjunath said.
Assistant director of department of agriculture, Sridharmurty DM said that use of nano urea greatly mitigated the damage done to the health of the soil. “Since the fertiliser is sprayed on the leaves, it greatly reduces the risk of the soil getting affected. Furthermore, inter-cropping will help restore soil fertility. Drones are proving particularly handy at a time when there is dire shortage of agricultural labour,” Sridharmurty said.
Kiran Gadigol, a farmers’ leader in Haveri, however, said that the cost of employing a drone to spray fertiliser on their fields was prohibitive. “The government must take steps to fix the price for drone operators so more farmers can afford them,” he said.