Karnal farmers adopt drones to spray nano urea on wheat crop
Parveen Arora
Karnal, January 10
The agriculture sector across the state is witnessing a new trend as farmers have started using drones to spray nano urea on wheat crops in a precise and uniform manner. Nano urea is a liquid fertiliser that is claimed to be more effective and eco-friendly than conventional urea.
The drone spraying of nano urea was launched on December 28 last year from Karnal district by the Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Department in collaboration with the Indian Farmers Fertiliser Cooperative Limited (IFFCO) that has developed the nano urea technology. The department has fixed a target to conduct demonstrations on one lakh acres of land across the state, for which the farmers have to register on the “Meri Fasal Mera Byora” (MFMB) portal. In Karnal district, the target is to cover 7,000 acres of wheat crop, of which 1,000 acres have been covered so far with nano urea.
Authorities said dense fog has created a hurdle otherwise they would have achieved the target as drones cannot fly in dense fog. Officials said the drone spraying of nano urea has several benefits for the farmers and the environment. “Drone technology saves water and labour, increases crop yield and quality and prevents soil and water pollution,” said Wazir Singh, Deputy Director of Agriculture (DDA), Karnal. Nano urea contains nano-sized particles of nitrogen that can be absorbed by plants more efficiently than conventional urea, he added. Singh further said it can save the quantity of urea by replacing one 45kg bag of granular urea with one bottle of 500ml nano urea. It also saves time as one drone can spray more than 20 acres in a day, while a farmer will take two to three days to cover 20 acres.
It can increase the crop yield and quality by providing balanced nutrition to plants, Singh said. The cost of spraying one acre is Rs 625, comprising Rs 400 of drone and Rs 225 of nano urea bottle. But a farmer has to pay only Rs 100 per acre. The rest of the cost would be borne by the government, he added.
Farmer Jaswinder Singh said, “I used nano spray on my wheat crop with the help of a drone. It has not only saved my time, but also urea and it was sprayed effectively.
