Cambodia cassava farmers eye drone technology
Some small-scale cassava farmers in Cambodia are wanting into drone expertise to realize larger crop yield and decrease prices.
Cassava is the second largest crop grown within the nation after rice and it contributes 4% to the GDP development.
The manufacturing, processing and export of cassava has been the important thing driver of Cambodia’s agricultural economic system. Based on the “National Cassava Policy 2020-2025” issued by Royal Authorities of Cambodia, the nation is positioned to be a house of cassava manufacturing and processing industries and turns into a dependable provider of cassava merchandise for regional and international market
The crop is planted over 600 thousand hectares of farmland, involving intensive labour and time-consuming course of. Cassava farming offers employment to 1000’s of rural employees throughout Cambodia. Moreover meals, the crop is changed into flour, paper and alcohol.
Taking an enormous leap ahead
Final month, cassava farmer Chhay Thi grew to become an early adopter of drone expertise when he engaged the companies of Red Sparrow Cambodia to exhibit autonomous weeding utilizing an XAG agricultural drone on his 10-hectare cassava area.
Crimson Sparrow is the native associate of Chinese language drone supplier XAG.
The drone flew over ridges of cassava crops, sprayed exactly alongside the pre-set route, and completed eight hectares of herbicide spraying through unmanned management. Prior to now, the identical quantity of labor often takes farm employees greater than every week to finish manually, however now, it may be performed inside one hour by just one agricultural drone.
Moreover the elevated effectivity, drones are serving to farmers like Chhay Thi to scale back general planting prices.
“If I’ve an XAG drone in busy seasons to assist me with crop safety, I can save $8-10 per hectare that’s previously spent on handbook spraying. Drone operation additionally reduces using chemical by 10-30%, so the assets and cash saved may be reallocated to the opposite crop cultivation,” mentioned Thi, who owns 20 hectares of land in Varin District of the Cambodian province of Siem Reap.
Certainly, whereas Cambodia’s agriculture sector has an ample workforce, farm house owners are confronted with a rising value as much as $18-25 per hectare once they rent employees for pesticide spraying. A gaggle of farm employees can solely spray one hectare per day, which might wrestle to meet up with the busy season of cassava development.
Not like the big agricultural equipment, drones may be transported conveniently and deployed to the sector a lot simpler. After the liquid tank was crammed with herbicide, the XAG agricultural drone robotically took off because the drone operator performed easy clicks on cellular app.
Different advantages of drone expertise
Along with closing the yield hole and decreasing prices, utilizing drones shield farmers from chemical publicity.
Cassava crop can develop larger than one meter and generally even over the peak of human. Conventional spraying requires farmers to both carry backpack sprayers or drive tractors to enter the sector. As an alternative of placing farmers into floor operation, drones can remove the well being dangers of inhaling chemical compounds and getting poisoned.
The way in which drone sprays high down from the air efficiently prevents direct contact of huge floor equipment on cassava crops, making certain that insecticides or fertilisers can penetrate the crops with precision and keep away from crop injury.
In the meantime, Thi categorical optimism about drone expertise.
“I imagine the excessive effectivity and inexpensive worth will speed up the dimensions up of drone operation amongst extra farmers. XAG’s agricultural drone can’t solely assist me reap extra harvest, but in addition serve different farmers with the identical demand for cassava increase,” he mentioned.
Drone expertise has confirmed its numerous benefits on farm administration, from bettering crop yield, utilizing much less pesticides to safeguarding the well-being of rural employees. As Cambodia is the world’s tenth largest producer of cassava with plans for steps ahead, XAG anticipates having extra cassava farmers to undertake agricultural drone and get higher revenue in a sustainable manner.
