Don't let everyone try
Drones ( drones) fertilize, spray medicine, sow seeds and will soon be remote drones, observe crop health... It can be said that with multi-purpose and high-yielding activities, after a short time of participating in the agricultural production sector, drones are not only considered a perfect replacement for the increasingly endangered rural labor force, but also a means to quickly lead farmers into the modern agricultural trajectory.
During the long days of the Mekong Delta provinces, when interacting with agricultural officials, farmers... everywhere we heard compliments about the practical benefits of drones.
Mr. Le Van Tam - Director of An Thanh Agricultural Cooperative (An Phong Commune, Thanh Binh District, Dong Thap Province) - said that currently, most members of the Cooperative use or hire agricultural drone drivers to take care of rice. "Since the drone was available, farmers have had less hardship because the drone is used to replace sowing and fertilizing, spraying pesticides," said Mr. Tam.
Because it brings too many functions, more and more farmers need to learn to drive drones, even want to own them. A farmer in Dong Thap province shared: "Seeing some hired drivers makes it as easy as playing games. Moreover, as long as I have money to buy, the equipment supplier will take care of all my documents from Flight Certificate, to flight area registration... so I also want to try it.
With many years of research in the field of mechanical electronics, Mr. Nguyen Duc Tai - lecturer of the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, An Giang Vocational College - assessed that agricultural drones are not actually as simple as many people think, because they have a rather complex structure.
To fly, there must be a balance system. However, because modun is now available, farmers only need to buy it to put up a rope and use it, without needing to learn about the installation, take-off process or any arising problems, so many people mistakenly think it is easy, generating a profit-taking mentality.
Scenario for incident handling
According to Mr. Tai, to be able to control drones to take off and fly, it only takes 30 minutes of study, but to apply them to fertilization, especially spraying pesticides using the right technique... drivers need to study and master many other basic theoretical and practical skills.
In unusual weather or when flying near broadcasting stations, it will cause disruption... requiring the driver to have professional skills and the acumen of the skills to be able to operate agricultural drones safely. Otherwise, many unpredictable unfortunate things could easily happen.
Normally, when there is an unexpected incident, professional pilots will have drones crash directly into the rice field to minimize damage to the surrounding area. However, in reality, most farmers participating in spontaneous drone control as at present will try to control drones back to their original position to preserve equipment.
Technically, according to Mr. Tai, currently, because most drone design companies are from modun, it is easy to operate, including switching from sowing fertilizer to spraying medicine. Currently, most drone owners use large droppers to maximize profits, because there is no bottleneck, the completion time is short... However, each type of epidemic requires each type of adaptive spraying skill.
"Drivers who are not properly trained to handle incidents or respond to bad weather, signal disturbances... are likely to have problems related to work-related accidents," Mr. Tai added.
Master Nguyen Phuoc Tuyen - former Director of the Agricultural Extension Center of Dong Thap province - acknowledged that the leniency of agricultural drones among farmers is the consequences of the lack of strict management and control of this device for many years. To erase this mentality, it is time for a scientific " revolution" in policies, strong and drastic in implementation measures to restore order in the field of agricultural drones.
