RAIPUR: Women-led Self-Help Groups (SHGs) in Chhattisgarh will now be trained in drone operations as part of the Centre’s ‘Namo Drone Didi Yojana’.
The workout exercise will begin in Baloda Bazar district, about 70 km from Raipur, where a large number of women from the Self-Help-Group have expressed their keen interest to get trained in drone operations.
The Vishnu Deo Sai government hopes the use of drones will soon gain popularity among the farmer community of the state. In the geographical area 138 lakh hectare of the state, the net sown area is around 46.51 lakh hectare, which is around 34% of the total and over 70% population of the state is stated to be engaged in agriculture.
District collector Deepak Soni said that as per the chief minister’s directive, efforts have been initiated to promote ‘Namo Drone Didis’ in the district, and accordingly, the officials of the agriculture department have been asked to undertake necessary steps to commence the training programme. “The plan is to create a ‘Cadre of Drone Didis’ in sufficient numbers so that all farmers in Baloda Bazar district can access the benefits of the government initiative.
The move endowed with potential for rural women to secure self-employment opportunities”, he added.
To be eligible, women must be between 18 and 37 years old, Indian citizens, and active self-help group members. Recently, Nirupa Sahu, popularly known as ‘drone didi’, and Nikhil Kannauje, drone pilot associated with multi-state cooperative society IFFCO, met the collector to share their vivid experiences. They stated that such drones can easily cover distances of around 2-3 kilometres, usually flying at a speed of one acre in 7-8 minutes.
Appreciating the duo as a source of inspiration for others over the utilisation of drones in agriculture, the collector also acknowledged the beneficial uses of drones in spraying fertilisers, pesticides, sowing seeds and even crop monitoring.
The Central government programme aims to empower rural women and provide them with financial autonomy. The trained women will get a drone pilot license for agriculture purposes and become self-supporting as additional livelihood opportunities.
“There is also a need to encourage the farmer community to comprehensively adopt drone technology for their crop management”, Soni said. Associated with ‘Vaibhav Lakshmi Self-Help Group’, Nirupa Sahu took a 15-day training course on drone operations at an institute in Gwalior.
She has been using drones in agriculture-related works like spraying fertilisers and pesticides. “I charge Rs 300 per acre for spraying urea or pesticides using the drone. I am quite engaged now in giving my services and earning a decent income”, Sahu narrated.
The Centre’s programme Namo Drone Didi Yojana scheme intends to provide drones to 15,000 SHGs in rural areas mostly for agricultural purposes over the next four years.
Chhattisgarh move
To be eligible, women must be between 18 and 37 years old, Indian citizens, and active self-help group members
The workout exercise will begin in Baloda Bazar district, about 70 km from Raipur
Government hopes the use of drones will soon gain popularity among the farmer community of the state
The drones can easily cover distances of around 2-3 kilometres