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Drone Spraying in Floriculture

Drone-spray custom-hiring services for floriculture - jasmine, marigold, chrysanthemum, rose and tuberose - apply foliar nutrient, fungicide and insecticide over open-field flower crops using multi-rotor agricultural drones. The service model is the dominant access channel for smallholders, who pay per-acre rates to an operator rather than owning the airframe.

Function

A multi-rotor sprayer drone (commonly the DJI Agras T-series) descends to two to three metres above the canopy and discharges atomised liquid through downward nozzles; rotor downwash drives droplets through dense flower-crop canopies. Application volume per acre is much lower than for a Knapsack Battery Sprayer (typically 10-15 L versus 100-200 L), requiring concentrated formulations.

Design and specifications

Service-fleet drones are the same airframes used in field-crop spraying (Agri Drone Sprayer), with payloads of 30-40 litres. Spraying in flower crops is particularly sensitive to droplet drift onto open blooms; operators schedule passes early in the morning and avoid windy conditions.

Operation

Operations fall under the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) Drone Rules 2021 and the Kisan Drone Standard Operating Procedure. Pilots must hold a DGCA Remote Pilot Certificate issued by an approved Remote Pilot Training Organisation (RPTO), and each airframe must carry a Unique Identification Number on the Digital Sky platform. Mission planning, geofencing and altitude limits are enforced through the same platform.

Subsidy and adoption

The Government of India promotes custom-spray services through SMAM (drone subsidy at 40-50% to individual farmers and 100% to certain institutions, including farmer producer organisations and Krishi Vigyan Kendras) and through the Namo Drone Didi scheme, which provides 80% capital subsidy plus 15-day pilot training (and five days for an assistant) to women Self-Help Groups to operate rental drone services. Drone hiring in floriculture clusters in Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh has scaled rapidly since 2022.

See also: Agri Drone Sprayer, Drone Fertiliser Spreader, Tractor Mounted Sprayer, Knapsack Battery Sprayer.

References

  1. Namo Drone Didi Scheme. india.gov.in.
  2. Government Policies and Subsidies for Agri-Drone Adoption in India. Vaimanika Aerospace.