By James Emmanuel Santua
Agriculture directions in the context of the third world have what is called agriculture 3.0, which is basically mechanizing farm operations from land preparation to post-harvest and high-value crops through the use of machinery. But now, there's agriculture 4.0, where drones are being used for crop protection.
In an interview with the Manila Standard, an agricultural engineer and a former Chief Science Research Specialist of the Philippine Center for Postharvest Development and Mechanization (PhilMech) in Rodolfo Estigoy said that there's a possibility that the labor force can be limited to other agricultural operations through modernization, including automation and digitalization.
Drones can be used in agriculture in a variety of ways, including crop protection, management of pests, plant diseases, and other pest organisms that harm crop production.
Fertilizer Application
“The drone resembles a little aircraft, allowing you to place a container for fertilizer treatment. Because it saves time, energy, and labor, it can spread fertilizer more efficiently on the farm. It's more efficient than what is traditionally done,” said Estigoy.
Pesticide and Fungicide
According to Estigoy, drones can also be used in plantation crops such as banana production. For example in Davao, they use a small airplane to apply fungicides to keep the bananas from getting sick. He explained that drones can be utilized, too.
Crop Condition Sensor
There are also drones used for sensors which can determine the agronomic conditions of crops or the field conditions of what you plant. It will know if it needs to irrigate, fertilize, or how much growth the crop has.
Drones will be able to do all the intervention needed for a good yield which means that labor, time and energy will be reduced.
Estigoy said the sole translation of drone utilization, like mechanization, is lower production costs, because including machines in operational farming reduces the cost of labor, which is the most expensive and intense part of our production system.
“Aside from the capacity to increase yield, machines also have the power to cut production losses and costs,” he added
When asked about drone sustainability for farming, Estigoy said, “Yes, it can be sustainable because it’s the way now. There seems to be no difference when we look at those technologies that are unique and have become part of life later on.”