IFFCO on Tuesday announced it would procure 2,500 drones as spray solutions for using on its first-of-its-kind nano urea and nano DAP. IFFCO is believed to have placed an order for about 1,700 drones already to be delivered by March 31, 2024.

While Garuda Aerospace and Paras Aerospace have confirmed to have received 400 orders, each, other orders could not be confirmed.

The decision to buy these drones will lead to development of 5,000 rural entrepreneurs who were identified by IFFCO to be trained for drone spraying, a statement by the fertiliser cooperative said. “It is a huge step for upliftment of rural economy and a step towards sustainable agriculture and holistic co-operative development,” IFFCO said.

Garuda Aerospace also issued a statement saying it has secured an order of 400 Agri Kisan Drones from IFFCO. Mumbai-based Paras Defence & Space Technologies, a listed firm, on Monday confirmed that its subsidiary Paras Aerospace has received the contract for procurement of 400 units of Agri-Drones for IFFCO Nano Fertilisers. The contract, totalling ₹42.4 crore, also includes two years AMC and training to pilots, Paras said.

Surge in demand

Gurugram-based IoTechWorld Avigation has secured the maximum orders from IFFCO, industry sources said. Deepak Bhardwaj, co-founder of IoTechWorld, and said, “We are witnessing a surge in demand for agri drones from agro-chemical players including fertilizer, pesticide companies. With substantial benefit to farmers, we are also witnessing a surge in demand from rural entrepreneurs and large farmholders.” He did not confirm the order, though.

IFFCO sources said the co-operative is targeting to deploy maximum drones in the current kharif season itself since there is a need to popularise nano fertiliser among farmers. During the kharif conference, Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar had wondered why the chemical fertilizer use was growing despite launch of nano-urea and increased area under natural and organic farming.

It is expected that one drone would be able to cover 20 acres per day for spraying IFFCO’s nano fertilizer, other water soluble fertilizers (WSF), bio-stimulants and agro-chemicals with backup.

To access the technical capabilities, manufacturing capacity, manufacturing process, quality processes, training curriculum, infrastructure IFFCO had Drone Federation of India which evaluated the specifications and confirmed those are in accordance with industry standards.

Electric 3-wheelers

IFFCO will also be procuring 2,500 electric 3-Wheelers (loader type) under L-5 category to carry the drones to the farmers’ field along with the nano fertilizers and associated utilities. This will also support newly announced PM-PRANAM scheme to reduce chemical fertilizer doses and to enable States for more assistance under this scheme, IFFCO said.

The co-operative major has also ordered tractor mounted boom sprayers, tractor mounted hose reel sprayers, HTP power sprayers with gun, static/portable sprayer, Niyo Sprayers for foliar application of nano fertilizers. The nano fertilizers are applied on various crops through foliar application using agricultural sprayers and drones.

The Centre has estimated the requirement of nano urea at 1.78 crore bottles (of 500 ml each) during current kharif season, which is equivalent to 8 lakh tonnes (lt) of conventional granular urea (sold in 45 kg bag). The urea sales during April-September (kharif sowing season) in 2022 was 172.11 lt, which the government targets to reduce to 170.68 lt in current kharif.

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