Syngenta India to start with drone spraying

According to Financial Express, Syngenta India is ready with two products (a fungicide and insecticide) for six crops including cotton, rice and soybean for drone spraying. The company will start with 50 drones and use them to spray 30,000 acres of farmland across the country. Trials with drone spraying were conducted on 400 acres. Data has also been submitted to regulators for 20 crops.

Financial Express further reports that Syngenta is launching a series of digital agri-tech solutions for farmers in India and is aiming to reach 2,50,000 farmers in a year, and then reach a million farmers thereafter.

Also read: Drone spraying takes off as regulations relax worldwide

Capturing images and generating data

Syngenta has tied up with five to six drone manufacturers for the supply of drones. Apart from spraying, these drones could in the future be used for capturing images and generating data that would be used to offer advisories to the farmers.

The company is also launching an app for growers that is to offer digital agronomy, weather-based advisory alerts, personalized crop calendars, nutrient recommendations, image-based disease diagnostics and credit access to small farmers through tie-up with fin-tech companies.

India is emerging as a new drone producing nation. The government is helping to boost the industry. Garuda Aerospace is one of India’s most promising startups.