India launches drone project for women in agriculture

Being a neighbour to the Mecca of cutting-edge commercial drone technology, perhaps it is no surprise that the Indian government is pulling at all stops to grow is local market to everyday bread levels.
First, the government protected its modest market by banning all drone imports in 2021, before pouring in money to support local start-ups that were building drones for commercial applications in the country.
Now it is moving to grow drone integration in precision agriculture, through the launch of a scheme aimed at modernising farming with the use of unmanned ariel vehicles.
Called the Namo Drone Didi Scheme, the programme will see the government offering subsidies of up to 80 percent for drones bought by women-led rural enterprises. which includes pilot training as well, two officials said. The initiative has an outlay of ₹1261 crore (about $150million).
“The Government has approved the Central Sector Scheme ‘Namo Drone Didi’ for providing Drones to the women self Help Groups (SHGs) under DAY-NRLM, with an outlay of ₹1261 Crores,” a statement from the government announcing the scheme said.
“The scheme aims to provide drones to 14,500 selected Women SHG; during the period from ZO24-25 to 2025-2026 for providing rental services to farmers for agriculture purposes (application of liquid fertilizers and pesticides for the present).
“Under the scheme, a Central Financial Assistance at 80 percent of the cost of drone and accessories/ancillary charges up to a maximum of 8.0 lakhs (about $45,000) will be provided to the women SHGs for purchase of drones as a package.
“The Cluster Level Federations (CLF) of SHGs may raise the balance amount (total cost of procurement minus subsidy) as loan under National Agriculture lnfra Financing Facility (AlF). lnterest subvention at three percent on the AIF loan will be provided to the CLFs/SHGs.
“The CLFs/SHGs shall also have the option to access loans from other sources/programmes/schemes of Ministry of Rural Development.”
The scheme’s operational guidelines went on to add that the scheme’s overall objectives included promoting the advancement of precision agriculture technology; to empower female-led start agriculture start-ups and to financially include rural communities.
“A member of the women SHGs will be selected for fifteen-day training comprising of mandatory drone pilot training and additional training for agriculture purpose f6r nutrient and pesticide application.
“Another member with inclination to take up repairs of electrical goods, fitting and mechanical works will be trained as drone assistant. The drone manufacturers shall provide these trainings as a package along with the supply of drones.”
The scheme is set to run for two years starting in January 2025.
The package for the drone will come with fitments such as cameras, mounted fertiliser sprayers, four sets of extra batteries, chargers and drone-flying training for these enterprises, which will then offer drone services on a per-hour hire basis to farmers.
The Indian drone industry is estimated to grow from approximately ₹60 crore (about $715million) in 2020-21 to nearly ₹900 crore ($10,7million) by 2024-25, according to data from the civil aviation ministry.
“These are critical to achieving the scale needed to make India a global drone hub by 2030, as envisioned by the government,” Varun Negi, the proprietor of agriculture Gagan Agritech Services.
Some media houses in India have however questioned the end game for projects like these, which have seen heavy funding injected, with no updates on how they have progressed.
One such project is the Kisan Drone Yatra, which is said to have been funded to the tune of 129,19billion rupees. However, the government had failed to provide answers to media questions regarding the practical application of drones for crop assessment and digitisation of land records.
Concerns and misgivings aside though, you have to applaud the Indian government’s efforts to make a success of their commercial drone industry. Perhaps that is something Africa as a continent should take note of and emulate.

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