Agriculture in India has adapted to multiple technological advances in past few decades. Emergence of Drones in Agriculture paved the way for new entrepreneurs, startups and established farm mechanization companies to apply drones in agriculture. Keeping in view of the importance of drones in agriculture, MANAGE, Hyderabad organized a five-day Training cum Workshop on “Drones for Agricultural Development” for the Agri-Ecosystem Stakeholders. This training workshop was held at Hyderabad during 11-15 July, 2022 in hybrid mode. First day of Training session starts with welcome address about the aim, objectives and utility of the program by the Training Director, Dr. Saravanan Raj, Director (Agricultural Extension), MANAGE, Hyderabad followed by the Inaugural address for the Training Workshop by Dr. P Chandra Shekara, Director General, MANAGE, Hyderabad. Mr. Praveen HJ, Manager, MANAGE – CIA, New Delhi offered vote of thanks.

In the day one (11.7.2022), there was a discussion on Kisan Drones and Implementation of the Scheme which was followed by a discussion on Guidelines for Unmanned Aerial Vehicles for Agriculture by Flight Lieutenant Annam Thyagaraja Kishore, CEO, Vidhya Sangha Technologies Pvt Ltd, Bangalore. On day-2 (12.7.2022) of this training workshop, Mr ML Sriharsha Venkatesh, director, Unmanned and Airborne Solutions Pvt Ltd, Karnataka delivered a talk on Applications of Drones in Modern Agriculture Practices. This was followed by a talk by Mr. Anurag Joshi, Director & Co-Founder, Indrone Aero Systems, Hubli, Karnataka who shared their experience on Role of Data Analytics in Drones. This was followed by experience sharing on Drone Based Startup by Mr Ambula Gopi Raja, Founder-Drone Raja, Fopple Drone Tech Pvt Ltd, Andhra Pradesh. On third day (13.7.2022) of training/workshop, it started with a talk by Mr. Leo Charles, Director, Bird360 TechLabs, Tamil Nadu on Drones in Modern Precision Farming: AI, ML, Image Processing & Remote Sensing. Mr. Prem Kumar Vislawath, Founder and Chief Innovator, Marut Drones – Agricopter, Hyderand, Telangana, delivered a talk on Regulatory Overview, Issues and Future Plans. This was followed by experience sharing by drone startups. On Fourth day (14 July, 2022), Dr RJ Singh, PI of DHaBReTCPGS-AS, CAU(I), Barapani, Meghalaya delivered an informative talk on Integration and Application of UAV for crop health assessment and Monitoring which was followed by a talk by Mr Mahantesh Chulaki, Lead-Operations and Service Syngenta India on Modern Practices in Agro Chemical Industry: Role of Drones, and experience sharing by Startup. On the Last day (15.7.2022) of this training workshop, Dr SN Omkar, Chief Res. Sci (control and guidance), Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, Karnataka delivered a talk on Strengthening the Quality Infrastructure in Agri Drone Space. This was followed by a Panel Discussion on Opportunities and Challenges for Drone Startups in Agriculture by the three Panelists viz., Mr Devan Chandrasekaran, Fuselage Innovations, Kerala, Mr. Pradeep Palleli, Thanos Technologies Pvt. Ltd., Telangana, and Mr. Sachin Maltare, Vista Agriwings, Madhya Pradesh. This was followed by a valedictory and feedback session.

Dr CS Praharaj, PS & Director (A) and Dr Kiran Reddy, Scientist, ICAR-DGR participated and presented their viewpoints/feedbacks in this Training Program on “DRONES in AGRICULTURAL DEVELOPMENT”.

ICAR-DGR also thanks ICAR-ATARI, Pune for sanctioning Two Drones for the Institute for Research and Training Purpose.

ICAR-DGR, Junagadh (Gujarat)