Agri Department Eyes Use Of Drone Tech For Palay Wet Cropping Season

The Department of Agriculture (DA) has revealed its plans to utilize drone technology to assist farmers in planting palay (unhusked rice) for the wet season.

The initiative to utilize drone technology could enhance efficiency in dispersing seeds, fertilizers, and other farm inputs through farm layout mapping. I Photo: Department of Agriculture / Agriculture Training Institute

DA Undersecretary for Rice Industry Development, Christopher Morales, emphasized that this initiative could enhance efficiency in dispersing seeds, fertilizers, and other farm inputs through farm layout mapping.

Morales stated, “Drone technology can reduce the seeding duration from hours to five minutes per hectare, as well as shorten the length of cropping days. It allows for precise selection and setting of spacing, minimizing wastage in farm inputs.”

He added, “While traditional seedling and transplanting methods take around 10 days, drone technology can significantly shorten this timeframe.”

The DA plans to distribute drone technology to farmers who are part of registered farmers’ cooperatives and clustered farms. In October 2021, the DA issued Memorandum Order No. 63 entitled, “Promoting the Use of Agricultural Drones towards the Transformation of Philippine Agriculture.”

The memorandum highlighted that technology and innovation, including digital agriculture, are key strategies in modernizing agriculture.

It emphasized the leveraging of digital technology and innovations throughout the food value chain and logistics, starting from efficient distribution of farm inputs to farmers, seed sowing, fertilizer application, and pest and disease surveillance, to the location of post-harvest facilities like storage facilities.

Furthermore, drones significantly expedite the process of risk analysis, allowing for quicker assessment of damages and identification of measures to mitigate the impact of calamities on affected farmers and fishers.