Aviation Uav Margate: Crop-spraying drones are taking off in SA – and that’s good news for smaller farms
Sugar cane responds well to a ripening spray at about eight weeks before harvest. Sugar cane farms in KwaZulu-Natal (KZN), struggle with uneven and inaccurate delivery of this spray by crop-spraying fixed-wing aircraft, so up until now, Helicopter spraying applications for the farmers were the best way.
Sugar cane in South Africa is usually cultivated on hilly terrain with steep gradients, and the average field size is small, at around 6ha. These factors, combined with coastal winds and obstacles such as electricity pylons, natural bush lines, and cell phone towers, make low-level flying difficult and dangerous.
To make matters worse, the ripening spray is often essentially a low-concentrate herbicide, so it is crucial to prevent the spray from drifting onto other crops or neighboring cane fields at a different growth phase.
Together, all these factors frequently result in the inaccurate application by fixed-wing aeroplanes, and hence failure to achieve full and even coverage over the crops requiring ripening.
We’re now at a point where drones can compete viably with traditional aeroplanes for crops such as maize, wheat, and timber,.
When spraying large areas in easier terrain at label-registered aerial rates, the Agras T40 can operate at a cost of between R200/ ha and R300/ha, as opposed to R500 /ha for helicopter spraying. In the Western Cape, winter grains can be done even more cheaply, as this spraying is required outside of the typical spring and summer spraying seasons and is thus seen by aerial contractors as an opportunity to supplement core income generated elsewhere.
Aviation UAV’S ROC was approved by the South African Civil Aviation Authority (SACAA) in February 2023. (Commercial drones are subject to similar regulations as commercial aircraft, and drone pilots need to be licensed and registered by both the SACAA and the Department of Agriculture, Land Reform, and Rural Development.)
Better Growth, Better Life
The next phase in the drone spraying revolution is to gain SACAA approval for ‘swarming’, where one pilot has the ability to control up to three spraying drones simultaneously.
The DJI Agras T40 is the Aviation UAV drone of choice for Crop Spraying and is developed with highly advanced safety systems, enabling seamless and perfectly safe use of this advanced function.
