Promoting the use and operation of unmanned aerial vehicles (drones) in agriculture is an extremely necessary task to help Vietnamese agriculture keep up with the world’s effective technological advances.

Existing Challenges

Although agriculture plays an important role in Vietnam’s economic structure, it faces many challenges, most notably labor shortages due to rapid urbanization. United Nations research on the trend of rural labor migration to urban areas in 2022 shows that the urban population in Vietnam is 44% and will increase to more than 50% in the next 5-10 years. Therefore, traditional manual farming methods that require a lot of labor in the field will inevitably face increasing hurdles.

In addition, agricultural production costs in Vietnam for some key crops such as corn, rice and soybeans are much higher than other countries in the region and developed countries. This disparity arises from the applicability of mechanization, automation, and digitalization in agricultural production.

However, with the increasing impact of climate change, the gradual depletion of natural resources, increasing pest pressure, as well as concerns about human health and safety in agriculture, the application of new technologies to the agricultural ecosystem brings even more remarkable potential for development. Of particular note is the initiative to use unmanned aerial vehicles to solve some problems in agriculture.

The trend of using drones is increasing rapidly in many Asian countries such as Japan, Korea, India and especially China (data shows that in 2021 the number of unmanned aerial vehicles in agriculture will reach 160,000, with an estimated total area of ​​almost 87 million hectares ). The use of unmanned aerial vehicles has also attracted a lot of attention from municipalities, companies and Vietnamese farmers.

Earlier this year, the Crop Protection Department (Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development) announced the first standard for field testing of pesticides to prevent crop pests using equipment. unmanned flight.

Outstanding efficiency

The results of many experimental models of spraying pesticides by drones show that the potential for the application of this technology in agriculture is enormous. The drone is programmed to follow a predetermined flight path with a stable flight speed, so that the accuracy of pesticide spraying is every centimeter, thus avoiding problems such as overlapping and repeated spraying. Repeated or omitted cultures.

On the other hand, farmers often have to spray several times during the crop growth cycle, which spends a lot of money on labor and finding enough labor is a headache for many farmers. Meanwhile, the use of unmanned aerial vehicles offers the same efficiency as spraying many workers at once, increasing labor productivity by 15 to 30 times and reducing spraying time per unit area.

In terms of safety, drone pesticide spraying also helps farmers limit their exposure to pesticides, reduce their exposure to pesticides, thus helping to protect farmers’ health. In addition, the amount of water used for UAVs is usually only 5-10% of the amount of water sprayed by traditional methods, which helps to save water and protect the environment.

Familiarize yourself with the technology of operating unmanned aerial vehicles

Despite many advantages, the use and operation of drones in crop protection spraying is still limited due to the lack of specific instructions on the safe and effective use of drones in spraying. BVTV.

Farmers and pilots flying drones in agriculture are still confused due to lack of information and lack of knowledge on how to operate drones properly and comply with standards in agriculture. Karma.

In this context, Syngenta Vietnam Co., Ltd. as a leading company in the field of agriculture, the event “Technology Pioneer – Escort of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles” to train students and pilots in the control of drones in agriculture.

Syngenta’s experienced technical team has guided the pilots to control and understand the correct operational procedures for unmanned aerial vehicles so that this force can access the equipment with the pesticide spraying technology. Drones according to the criteria of safety, efficiency and correctness.

Mr. Nguyen Vu Lam from Thanh Tay Hamlet, Thanh Dong Township, Tan Hiep District (Kien Giang), rejoices after the training: “Vietnam’s agriculture in the 4.0 era must adopt new effective cultivation methods. An example is the spraying of pesticides by drones or drone pilots like us.

Syngenta Vietnam is not only taking the lead, but I also see that they are trying to create a premise and apply scientific advances in the world to Vietnamese agriculture, not only to help farmers solve current property difficulties, but also to create new jobs to create, for example, drone pilots for me and my brothers here.”

Mr. Nguyen Thanh Tuan, Director of Sustainability Management (Syngenta Vietnam Co., Ltd.), said, “Using drones is a trend to support agriculture that people are interested in.” We hope that through training like this, hands-on , timely and complete information is provided so that the agricultural industry can safely access new and more effective technologies and thus manage the development of the agricultural sector. Modern and sustainable Vietnamese agriculture.”