Sirsa rural women fly high with drones to save crops

Anil Kakkar

Sirsa, March 10

Women in rural areas, who have always lent a helping hand to men in agriculture fields, are now taking on a new role in the farms by spraying pesticide by using drones.

Four women in the district have received training in operating drones. They are now recognised as ‘drone didis’ (drone sisters).

The women, including Shakeela (38) of Madhosinghana village and Priyanka Nehra (30) of Nathor village, received the drone training under a scheme sponsored by the Indian Farmers Fertiliser Cooperative (IFFCO) in February. They have already carried out pest control operations on more than 500 acres with the help of drones.

Shakeela and Priyanka emphasised that the traditional methods of spraying pesticide required more physical efforts and incurred higher costs. They said the drones have made the task easier.

Shakeela, who has passed Class X and was motivated by IFFCO and district manager Sahil Kumar, decided to get training in operating drones after forming a farmer producer organisation in her village with the help of her husband Radhey Shyam.

She received the training in Gurugram in November 2023. She expressed her gratitude towards the Union and state government along with IFFCO for the initiative.

As part of the scheme, the women are given a drone worth around Rs 15 lakh, an electric vehicle for transporting the drone and pesticides. They have also received a small generator for charging the drone batteries. A drone comes with a set of eight batteries, allowing them to cover approximately 25 acres in a day.

At present, the women pilots earn Rs 250 per acre for spraying pesticide, which takes about five to seven minutes and 10 litre of water is used. While using the traditional method, it takes 125 to 150 litres per acre.

Sahil Kumar, district manager, IFFCO, said the two women from the district were trained in operating drones for spraying pesticides as a part of the cooperative’s initiative.

Meanwhile, farmers Sandeep Beniwal and Virendra Kumar from Madhosinghana village said the aerial spraying of urea with the help of drones was highly convenient, but it was proving expensive as compared to the manual labour.

The IFFCO drone charges Rs 400 for spraying one acre, whereas manual spraying costs Rs 150 per acre, they added.

The farmers said the IFFCO should consider charging between Rs 200 and Rs 250 per acre for the purpose to avoid putting additional burden on them.