IoTechWorld Avigation, one of India’s largest drone manufacturers, has developed a process to directly spray and sow seeds of paddy, chilli and different vegetabls, the company’s co-founders Deepak Bhardwaj and Anoop Upadhyay have said.
“Sowing is a difficult process when it comes to paddy. So, we have developed a process to directly broadcast paddy seeds. They are germinating very well and the yield is equivalent to the conventional process. It has made thelives of farmers easy,” said Bhardwaj, who along with Upadhyay are also directors of the company.
IoTech has succeeded in similar “broadcasts” of different vegetables and chilli in Tamil Nadu. “The results are overwhelming,” said Bhardwaj.
‘Like a tractor’
“The drone is multi-purpose like a tractor. It not only sprays agro-chemicals but also broadcasts granule such as urea, seeds and other such things. By making our drone multipurpose, we have increase the number of days when drones can be operated on the field,” said Upadhyay.
IoTechWorld Avigation founders and directors Deepak Bharadwaj (left) and Anoop Upadhyay
Stating that the results have been “promising”, he said the company has broadcast seeds on fields as well as fish feeds and afforestation. “In hilly areas, if you want to spray the seeds it is very difficult for human beings. Drones can fly and spray the seeds for the trees to come up particularly when during the rainy season,” Upadhyay said.
IoTech, which was incorporated in 2017 and launched its first drone in 2018, sees a good future for drone technology in India. While the main purpose its drones is plant protection – spraying insecticides, nutrition and fungicides, it could also be used for farm surveys of using multi-spectral cameras, the co-founders said.
R&D manufacturer
The company, which has its presence in all States including Andaman Islands besides having retail channel in 12 States, is a research and development manufacturer of drones. The company only sells drones and does not provide any spray service.
However, it has tied up with agri entrepreneurs who buy 50-60 drones and provide these services. Farmers make up 30-35 per cent of its customers, while there are a few State departments of agriculture service (DAS) partners who make up another 30 per cent.
“And we are a research and development-based manufacturer. Whatever components you see in our drones, they are all designed and developed by us in India,” said Bharadwaj.
IoTech, which has marketed 3,000 drones so far, has a major share in the country’s drone market with its own dealer and service networks.
Looking to export
The company, which has over 200 employees, is a deep-tech firm and its forte is innovation. “We are developing new components and adding more features in drones. We make the software very intuitive for farmers to use drones without much hassles,” said Upadhyay.
IoTech connects farmers over the cloud and sends data real-time. The company is also focussing on exports, controlling quality, costs and supply chain. The company sells drones only through dealers but it does take up any bulk orders of 50-60 drones.
Bhardwaj said the company will first look at the South-East Asian market and then Africa and Latin America. The company’s drones are used by almost all kinds of users – researchers, corporates and DAS arms such as Krishi Vigyan Kendras.
On the Centre’s drone policies, Bhardwaj said it has helped corporates get active on the drone front and create hundreds of agri-entrepreneurs.
Upadhyay said its drones can be flown easily in three steps after filling the tank with graphic user interfaces in many regional languages helping farmers. The drones, costing ₹5-6.5 lakh, have artificial intelligence and machine learning features such as collision avoidance, obstacle detection and automatic rerouting.
Funding buys
As regards cloud integration, whatever data the drone captures, goes up to the cloud and is analysed in the control room. The way an agri entrepreneur or farmer flies a drone is analyzed and the company calls the farmers directly to assist, said Bhardwaj.
IoTech has tapped the State Bank of India, Punjab National Bank and will soon rope in another bank to provide loans to purchase these drones. It also helps agri entrepreneurs to tap the Government’s financial service through agri infrastructure funds scheme to get loan up to 90 per cent of the drone value.
“The loans are provided at a low interest of 9 per cent with 3 per cent government subvention. The effective rate is only 6 per cent and the loan is an unsecure one,” Bhardwaj said.
The company has one remote pilot training organization to train drone pilots.
On drone didis, Bhardwaj said it brings many benefits, including direct industrial growth. The Centre has allocated ₹1,200 crore for the Drone Didis project, which will increase the penetration and reach of agricultural drones across the country.
Drone Didis impact
“It gives an a bold and loud message to all the potential agri entrepreneurs that when a lady can operate a drone and earn lacks of rupees every month, then why cannot men,” he said.
Upadhyay said the Drone Didis project will increase the participation of women in agriculture. “Even a lady who has completed tenth standard can become a drone didi. We are on a mission to enable the adoption of agriculture drones in rural India for the benefit of our farmers,” he said.
On the lack of trained drone pilots, Upadhyay said more training of drone operators was required at the ground level so that many could adopt it as a career and earn a better livelihood.
“This is the fourth technology revolution after mobile and we will be playing a major role is my view,” he said.
Bhardwaj said getting loans under agriculture infrastructure funds is proving to be difficult. “For example, if a farmer applies today, even if everything looks good it takes two months for the loan to be disbursed. Two months is a long period. We request the Centre to intervene and make this process a simple one as also for agri entrepreneurs who sometimes have to come up with additional capital,” he said.
