HYDERABAD: While the agricultural sector has been slow to adopt several technological advancements that impact almost every other aspect of our lives, a Hyderabad-based startup is offering futuristic solutions to agricultural issues.
Observing the shortage of manual labourers, the firm Vyomik Drones has introduced drones to undertake agricultural spraying, field mapping, crop health analysis and growth and fertility monitoring, among others. This helps trim down the time and cost of production for farmers across the nation significantly, says Hanuma Madireddy, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the firm.
Charan Bhusarapu, IT and partnerships director, Vyomik Drones, tells TNIE, “We started this startup in July 2020 with a team of five. I come from an agricultural background as my father was into the pesticides business, so I have been in touch with the farmers and dealers for over 15 years.”
“I have observed that the income of the farmers per crop is extremely less when compared to the work that they put in. For 10 acres of land, the manual work of spraying takes about three to four days, but with these drones, the work will be completed within a few hours. Drones can spray 10 litres of pesticides and fertilisers in one acre within 10 minutes. Crop health also stays unaffected since the spread of pests is controlled immediately,” he adds.
Charan informs that they have conducted trials in Narayanraopet, Anneboinapalli, Sujathanagar in Telanagana and in Tadepalligudem and Uppalaguptam in Andhra Pradesh.Explaining the vision behind the enterprise, he says, “We also want to strengthen the rural economy as well as operating these drones requires a pilot and a helper. Educated youth can work and earn regular income in their own native villages and towns without having to migrate to cities.”
Recognition
Vyomik Drones’ work has been recognised by the Telangana State Innovation Cell (TSIC) and Research and Innovation Circle of Hyderabad (RICH). They have also recently entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the ICAR- Indian Institute Rice Research (IIRR) to evaluate the application of drones in rice cultivation and develop Standard Operating Protocols (SOPs). “With the IIRR, we are planning to work on direct seeding of rice, pesticide spraying, pollination of hybrid rice, stress analysis using multi-spectral, flood and drought mapping crop insurance,” says Charan.
