India is one of the biggest agrarian economies in the world. A majority of people in rural India still rely on farming as the primary source of income. India is only second to the United States when it comes to the total arable area with 394.6 million acres while it tops the list of the countries with the largest gross irrigated crop area with 215.6 million acres. Also, agriculture contributed nearly 20% to the overall GDP of India in FY 2020-21, a jump of more than 2% from its contribution in FY 2019-20.

Agriculture is one of the biggest contributors to the Indian GDP; however, it still somehow manages to evade the technological advancements that are necessary for its progress. Whether we look at it from the perspective of farmers, seed production companies, biologics companies, crop insurance companies, or other stakeholders, automation in agriculture is the need of the hour. Traditional methods that had been used for decades are no longer enough to meet the required demand. Almost every other sector has undergone modernization, it is time for the agriculture sector to become technologically ready for the future.

Automation can help the agriculture sector solve so many problems that have been plaguing its growth for years. It can bring more efficiency into every process, from crop monitoring and yield estimation to insurance claims and everything in between. By automating the data collection process and integrating AI-based data visualizations and analysis into it, a lot can change for everyone on the agriculture bandwagon. Embracing the drone technology can be a game-changer in this regard for the entire agriculture sector. But how will drone-based solutions impact and benefit different stakeholders?

Farmers
Drones can help farmers collect all the farming data they want to improve the yield and consequently, increase their income. Data analysis and visualization using artificial intelligence can provide farmers with deep insights into how they can -

• Save their crops from diseases,

• Assess risks

• Count tree/crops

• Optimally utilize resources, and

• Estimate yield and more.

Temperature, weather, soil conditions, and other external factors play a crucial role in deciding the quality and quantity of produce. With accurate aerial data captured by drones at their disposal, farmers can make mindful choices to better adapt to different conditions.

The benefits:

Drones can help in enhancing the overall efficiency of farming practices being used and at the same time, encourage farmers to solve small issues that make a big impact at the time of harvest. Drones and the related drone operations platforms automate the data collection, analysis, and visualization processes and thus enable farmers to make faster and more accurate decisions for improvement of their farming practice.

Seed production and biologics companies
These companies are involved in making agriculture more sustainable and profitable. They introduce new seed varieties for farms suited for different types of soil and exposure to different climatic conditions. By using drones for crop phenotyping, these companies will:

• Have accurate data and insights into the crops and farms spread across different geographies.

• Be able to analyze data using a cloud-based end-to-end drone operations platform to help improve the quality as well as quantity of seed yield.

• Automate their experiments for developing new seed varieties.

The benefits:

With drones performing in-field inspections, companies can

• Cut expenses by reducing the number of personnel required for manual analysis and inspection.

• Minimize the ill-usage or non-usage of agri inputs.

• Do away with the process of manual reconciliation of data.

• Put fixed assets and resources to a more effective use.

• Better utilize contracted seed production farms for higher yield.

Crop insurance companies

The crop insurance claim cycle today is both time-consuming and erroneous. It could take months and even a year for crop insurance companies to verify the claims and then process the settlement. Many of the times, the data collected by insurance surveyors has many errors due to unavailability of high-quality imagery and accurate details. This can lead insurance companies to overpay or underpay for claims, resulting in disputes between them and their stakeholders, regulators, and customers. However, this isn’t the case when drones are deployed for claim assessment work.

The benefits:

With the accuracy and efficiency associated with drones, insurance companies can

• Significantly reduce the number of fake insurance claims coming their way.

• Reduce the number of personnel required to be present on the field or for conducting inspections.

• Save insurance companies’ money, resources, and time.

FMCG
FMCG companies own vast stretches of agricultural land, and it often becomes quite difficult for them to monitor it properly. This can lead to a compromise with the quality and quantity of the yield. FMCG companies can save themselves the losses caused by weeds, livestock, ad pests by monitoring fields 24*7 with the help of drones. They can also bring down the post-harvest losses considerably by having drones monitor crops throughout their lifespan.

The benefits:

• Drones can give FMCG companies information about adjacent isolated fields that they can put to better use.

• By having drones collect data, they can reduce the consolidation and reconciliation work significantly.

• With all the important data in hand, these companies can make better investment decisions in additional fields as well.

• Drones can also help them to enable quality assurance and validate if all their workers are coming/leaving on time and doing their job properly.

Conclusion

Drone technology is continuously evolving and has the potential to revolutionize agriculture by digitizing farms. Regulations around manufacturing and operation of drones are also eased by the government to make manufacturing and adoption of this technology easier. With the usage of drones in agriculture likely to rise, it is expected that this technology will have a transformative effect on an ever-growing number of farms, farmers, insurance companies, FMCG companies, and seed producers in the years to come.