Philippines to start using drones for crop chemical spraying
Piñol said that initially, 5,000 hectares of vegetable farms in the town of Buguian and other municipalities in the highland province of Benguet will serve as a pilot area for the new farming technology that the Department of Agriculture is adopting. “On Friday a successful test of Drone Spraying in the vegetable farms in La Trinidad was witnessed by Benguet Governor Cresencio Pacalso and hundreds of curious vegetable farmers of the province,” he said.
Spraying fertiliser and other chemicals such as pesticides is more efficient and faster when using drones. It took the drone just a few minutes to cover a patch of vegetables and according to the data by the Japanese service provider company, it will only take 10 minutes to spray one hectare.
Gulfnews.com quoted Piñol as saying that while the use of drones in agriculture is not new, it will be the first time that the Department of Agriculture will be utilising such remotely-controlled vehicle in farm operations. “The agriculture department is already using drones for aerial surveys and geotagging operations, especially for farm to market roads.”
