Agri-drone maker IoTechWorld Avigation on Monday said it has secured a contract from fertiliser cooperative IFFCO for supplying 500 drones, which will be primarily used for spraying nano-urea and nano-DAP.

Indian Farmers Fertiliser Cooperative Limited (IFFCO) last week had announced its plan to procure 2,500 drones for spraying its products nano-urea and nano-DAP (Diammonium Phosphate). Industry estimates the entire cost may be about ₹250-300 crore in the project in which some other machineries will also be purchased.

“The company will deliver 500 drones to IFFCO by December 2023,” IoTechWorld’s Co-Founder Anoop Upadhyay said in a statement. The AGRIBOT, IoTechWorld’s Krishi drone, has been specially designed and programmed for fertilisers and the order from IFFCO is a testament to the company’s strength in the agri-drone segment, said the other Co-Founder Deepak Bhardwaj.

Gurugram-headquartered IoTechWorld, backed by agro-chemical firm Dhanuka Agritech, is India’s first DGCA-type certified drone ‘AGRIBOT’. Besides IFFCO, IoTechWorld Avigation has also partnered with agrochemical company Syngenta and has undertaken 17,000 km of drone yatra in various parts of the country.

The company aims to sell more than 3,000 drones this fiscal and is also exploring opportunities for export to neighbouring countries as well as in south east Asia and Latin America.

Other manufacturers who have also received supply orders from IFFCO are Garuda Aerospace, Paras Aerospace, Thanos Technology, General Aeronautics, and Dhaksha Unmanned Systems, each bagging orders for 400 drones.

The decision to buy these drones will lead to the development of 5,000 rural entrepreneurs who will be trained for spraying drones, IFFCO had said.

Related Topics