Farmers 4.0 go to the field without carrying sprayers, 30 minutes to finish 2 days' work

It only takes 30 minutes to spray 1 hectare of rice field, a job that previously took 2 days. No heavy lifting, no toxic exposure, and lower costs, using airplanes to spray rice fields has brought many positive changes to farmers in provinces and cities in the Mekong Delta region.

Using drones to spray pesticides brings positive changes in farming and planting. Photo: Bich Ngoc

Big changes from small equipment Following Mr. Nguyen Van Chung (Hong Dan district, Bac Lieu province) to the field when spraying pesticides, we were quite surprised when this farmer just went without a sprayer. According to Mr. Chung, about a year ago, spraying pesticides for the fields in the locality used aircraft instead of people. With 1 hectare of rice field, if before, Mr. Chung had to run around looking for workers to help every time it was the sowing and spraying season, since having the aircraft, this farmer can leisurely go to the field alone and take care of everything. "I am the only one in my family who knows how to farm, so when sowing or spraying pesticides, I do it all by myself. Before, it took nearly 2 days to spray 1 hectare of land and workers were expensive and hard to find" - Mr. Chung said. According to Mr. Chung, the price of hiring workers to use hand sprayers to spray pesticides is about 25,000 VND/can. With 1 hectare of his family's land, he has to pay about 500,000 VND for each spraying. Meanwhile, using an airplane to spray, he only spends about 350,000 VND for each crop.

Using drones to spray pesticides helps farmers save on labor costs. Photo: Bich Ngoc

Mr. Chung shared: "Before, I had to carry a sprayer and use a hand sprayer to spray, which was very hard. Because of the heavy load, my health was also affected after a long time. Especially after spraying, because I had to come into direct contact with pesticides, even though I wore a mask and sprayed, I still had rhinitis. Since the spraying plane came into operation, I have had a lot less trouble." According to Mr. Chung, farming today is less precarious because many years ago, people signed contracts to purchase products and support rice seeds with rice production companies. Most recently, they have been supported to apply mechanization and use aircraft equipment in agricultural production. "Not to mention, when spraying manually, many places still leave packaging and pesticide containers littered in the fields, causing environmental pollution, and hiring workers to wade through the fields to spray will more or less trample the rice," said Mr. Chung. Saving time, reducing risks For the past 3 years, Mr. Nguyen Van Con (Long My district, Hau Giang province) still believes in using aircraft to spray his family's fields because it saves time and costs less. With 1.5 hectares of his family's fields, it takes him about 1 hour to finish spraying, while when using a hand sprayer, it can take up to 2 days, not to mention when it rains, he has to postpone it to another day. "When it rains right after spraying, farmers are restless because the pesticides have not yet absorbed and are washed away. Since having this aircraft, people have been less worried because the pesticides are absorbed quickly, saving on spraying costs, which is both expensive and time-consuming" - Mr. Con said. According to this farmer's experience, using a hand sprayer to spray, if it rains after 2-3 hours, it is necessary to spray again because rainwater will wash away the pesticides. When using an aircraft to spray, the amount of medicine is sprayed evenly and in mist form so the medicine is absorbed quickly, so people can feel more secure.

Mr. Ha Dat Thinh uses a remote-controlled aircraft to spray pesticides on his fields. Photo: Bich Ngoc

Mr. Ha Dat Thinh - an employee of Loc Troi Group Joint Stock Company - shared: Spraying pesticides in this way, the aircraft is remotely controlled by a control device, just need to determine the location to be sprayed and press the button for the aircraft to start flying to the spraying point and spray automatically. In particular, the amount of pesticide will be displayed on the control device, so there is no fear of uneven spraying or missing pesticides... "The pesticide spraying aircraft serving farmers is the low and medium-altitude type. Depending on the type of aircraft, the capacity is different, but usually on average, one flight, the aircraft will hold about 10 liters of pesticide, equivalent to 0.5 hectares of rice fields. It only takes about 30 minutes to spray 1 hectare of land, many times faster than traditional pesticide spraying" - Mr. Thinh said.

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