In recent years, the agriculture sector has been able to take advantage of the technological revolution in its favor by making use of small aircraft – better known as drones – to fumigate crops.
As it is known, this unmanned aerial vehicle is the result of technological advances, which is capable of autonomously maintaining a level of controlled and sustained flight and propelled by an explosion, electric or reaction engine.
These characteristics make it the ideal object to meet the requirements demanded by the care of a crop, among which is fertilization and fumigation, which are fundamental steps for a crop to be successful or not.
In economic terms this also provides a great advantage to agricultural producers, since it prevents the loss of crops between 19 and 12%. Although for this the human factor must be reduced.
However, day laborers are often not trained enough to handle toxic substances and use specialized equipment, so leaving this work to drones helps reduce the risks workers are exposed to.
In Mexico, as well as in different regions, using this type of equipment in crops also manages to optimize times and streamline processes, since these devices take time to fumigate one hectare in around 20 minutes, against a man-hour, that is, if it did a squad. According to experts, with the support of this technology, up to 20 hectares can be fumigated in a single day.
The drones also serve to map and verify the health of the crops, because they process the information. In the country there are 6.4 million agricultural land and 96.8% is open-pit agriculture, where 79.7% is dedicated to corn and 51.9% belongs to small producers, according to data from the National Institute of Statistics and Geography (INEGI).
Fuentes consultadas:
La Jornada
Wikipedia