Farmers in Madhya Pradesh are queing up to become drone pilots in order to take their crops to new heights. Around 120 farmers have appealed to the MP government’s agriculture engineering directorate for permission to fly drones.
The department is currently reviewing the applications to check if any of them already have a drone license from the Director General Civil Aviation (DGCA). If they already have a licence, they will be given the go-ahead to take off right away.
According to central government guidelines, the government would subsidize the acquisition of drones as well as the cost of training. “There are certain guidelines for using drones for agricultural purposes.” “First and foremost, the farmer purchasing one should have a DGCA drone pilot license and a passport,” Pawan Singh Shyam, joint director, directorate of agriculture engineering said. Shyam stated that the directorate has an agreement with Indira Gandhi Rashtriya Udan Academy, Amethi, an autonomous entity under the Ministry of Civil Aviation, to teach farmers.
“Under the MoU, the training fee is subsidized at Rs 30,000 per farmer.” Farmers, however, will only be have to pay half of it. The remainder will be borne by the government. We have infrastructure in the IT park in Bhopal for training, and IGRUA professionals will train them. “We are also planning to open a training facility in Jabalpur, and we are in talks with Anna University about training farmers,” he said. Farmers will be given a subsidy to purchase drones once they have obtained the license. The ministry of agriculture provides a 75 per cent subsidy to farmer producer organizations (FPOs) up to Rs 7.5 lakh, a 50 per cent subsidy to women and SC/ST farmers up to Rs 5 lakh, and a 40 per cent subsidy to other farmers up to Rs 54 lakh.
