The government will encourage the use of drones in agriculture by providing funding to agricultural institutes.
- ByStartupStory | January 24, 2022
The Union Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare has published rules to make drone technology affordable to stakeholders in the agriculture industry, which is a big boost for precision farming in India.
The guidelines of the “Sub-Mission on Agricultural Mechanization” (SMAM) have been amended, allowing the Farm Machinery Training & Testing Institutes, ICAR institutes, Krishi Vigyan Kendras, and State Agriculture Universities to receive up to 100% of the cost of an agriculture drone, or Rs 10 lakh, whichever is less, as a grant to purchase drones for large-scale demonstrations of this technology on farmers’ fields.
Implementing agencies that do not want to buy drones but want to hire them for demonstrations from custom hiring centres (CHCs), hi-tech hubs, drone manufacturers, and startups will receive a contingency expenditure of Rs 6,000 per acre.
For existing Custom Hiring Centres set up by Cooperative Society of Farmers, FPOs, and Rural entrepreneurs to provide agricultural services through drone application, 40 percent of the basic cost of the drone and its attachments, or Rs 4 lakh, whichever is less, would be available as financial assistance for drone purchase.
The new CHCs, or Hi-tech Hubs, that will be established by Cooperative Societies of Farmers, FPOs, and rural entrepreneurs with financial assistance from SMAM, RKVY, or other schemes, can include drones as one of the machines in the projects of CHCs/Hi-tech Hubs, along with other agricultural machines.
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