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Tuesday, March 19

Fungicide spraying drone ready for tests

Fungicide spraying drone ready for tests


Mangalore Today News Network

Nov 21, 2017: A prototype of the drone to spray fungicide to control kole roga (fruit-rot disease) in arecanut plantations during the rainy season, which has created much curiosity among farmers, will be launched in Dharmasthala soon.

Manufactured by iSpAgro Robotics Pvt. Ltd., a startup at Nidle village in Dakshina Kannada, it would be launched in the presence of Director of the Central Plantation Crops and Research Institute (CPCRI), Kasaragod, Kerala, P. Chowdappa.

The startup cell of the State Department of IT and BT has sanctioned a corpus of Rs. 50 lakh to this “idea to proof of concept project” as grant-in-aid.

Using the fund, a team of five engineers have floated the startup in the village.

Its founder and Chief Executive Officer Avinash Rao told The Hindu that farmers can attend its launch at Vasanth Mahal at 5 p.m. in large numbers to give their feedback.

It would help the manufacturer to make changes, if required, as per the need of farmers.

Its functioning would also be explained through a video presentation as there are certain restrictions on the demonstration of drones for long.

Mr. Rao said that the starup has not limited its scope of research and development to develop a drone only to spray fungicide for arecanut palms but to develop a drone for a wide application in farming, including for spraying on coconut palms and other crops. The fund has been made available for the same purpose.

Subject to the approval of Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), the startup has planned to launch its first commercial drone applicable for arecanut plantations in mid-2018. Arecanut growers have been facing acute scarcity of skilled labour to spray fungicide.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Civil Aviation announced the draft regulations on civil use of drones on November 1, 2017. As per the draft Civil Aviation Requirements for Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS), all drones are proposed to be operated in visual line of sight, during day time only and below 200 ft.

Dropping of any substance, carriage of hazardous material or animal or human payload is not permitted.

All commercial categories of drones, except those in the nano category, will have to be registered by the DGCA as per International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) proposed policy, in the form of Unique Identification Number (UIN). There are exemptions to it based on the categories of drones.


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