The person who brought the service of spraying pesticides by agricultural aircraft to Gia Lai

Born and raised in a farming family in Chu Se district, Mr. Cuong understands the hardships of farmers every time it is time to spray pesticides on crops. In 2020, while working at AgriDrone Vietnam - a company specializing in researching and applying drone technology to various areas of life, especially agricultural production, he had the opportunity to access new technology. The 9X guy thought about buying agricultural drones to serve his fellow countrymen. However, seeing that many people were not familiar with this device, Mr. Cuong was somewhat hesitant. Recently, he decided to invest in equipment to open a pesticide spraying service when he researched and saw that the market was promising.

When implementing the idea, Mr. Cuong encountered objections from his family. Because the investment capital for a DJI AGRAS T50 machine was up to 300 million VND, while its effectiveness was not yet clear. However, after a favorable start, he gradually received support. To have support personnel, he hired 2 more local young people to work with him and spent time instructing and training them to understand how to use and operate agricultural pesticide spraying drones.

Mr. Chau Khac Cuong (middle) and staff next to an agricultural drone used to spray pesticides (photo provided by the character).

From April 2025 to present, Mr. Cuong has been deploying pesticide spraying services using drones for coffee trees, passion fruit, sweet potatoes, beans of all kinds... in some districts such as Chu Prong, Phu Thien, Dak Doa, Chu Se... To ensure legality during operation, Mr. Cuong has registered a flight license from the Department of Operations (under the General Staff of the Vietnam People's Army).

“The DJI AGRAS T50 drone weighs about 110 kg when filled with water and batteries, and is remotely controlled by a controller. Due to its large weight, assembly and transportation require at least 2 people. I often use a car to transport the machine to the work site and encounter many difficulties when having to navigate gardens with steep, rough terrain,” said Mr. Cuong.

Compared to manual spraying, using drones saves a lot of costs and labor. For 1 hectare of coffee, spraying by drone only requires about 200 liters of water, instead of 1,000-1,200 liters like manual spraying. Spraying time is also shortened to about 1 hour per hectare. For passion fruit and sweet potatoes, the amount of water only needs 90-150 liters/ha. The price of Mr. Cuong's drone pesticide spraying service ranges from 500,000 to 900,000 VND/ha. This is also the optimal choice for many large-scale agricultural production households that have difficulty finding workers to spray pesticides.

According to Mr. Cuong, using agricultural drones to spray pesticides also helps protect farmers’ health. Because the operator stands far away, he does not come into direct contact with chemicals.

Controlling a drone to spray pesticides on a durian garden. Photo: CH

Having just experienced the service of spraying pesticides using agricultural drones for 1 hectare of coffee for his family, Mr. Nguyen Huan (Cat My village, Ia Ve commune, Chu Prong district) commented: “Previously, when spraying manually, it took me about 1 session to complete, but spraying with drones only takes 1 hour; the efficiency is about 90%. In addition to reducing time and labor, the most important thing is that it has less impact on health because you do not have to come into direct contact with pesticides.”

On average, Mr. Cuong's group sprays 2 hectares per day, earning about 1.8 million VND in compensation. On peak days, the group can earn 9-10 million VND. Mr. Ho Dac Nam (village 6, Ia Blang commune, Chu Se district) happily said: "Working on this spraying equipment is quite easy for me, with a stable income. The only difficulty is that I have to travel a lot, far, leave early and come back late."

Currently, Gia Lai does not have a specialized repair center for agricultural drones, so every time there is a technical problem, Mr. Cuong has to send the device far away for repair, which is both time-consuming and expensive. This is also the difficulty he has to face when starting a business with this new service. However, the 9X guy is still determined: "This is not only my own direction but also opens up practical startup opportunities for young people who are passionate about technology and want to get rich from modern agriculture."

Source: https://baogialai.com.vn/nguoi-dua-dich-vu-phun-thuoc-tru-sau-bang-thiet-bi-bay-nong-nghiep-ve-gia-lai-post322851.html