India’s leading drone manufacturer, Marut Drones’ has received the Type Certification approvals from the Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) for its tested and robustly designed multi-utility agricultural drone AG 365. “AG 365 is designed and developed for Indian conditions and can be used for multiple purposes giving a higher ROI to the user. AG 365 is extensively tested for more than 1.5 lakh acres and optimised for performance to be used in agriculture. Further, extensive research is undergone with AG 365 for development of crop-specific drone spraying SOPs in collaboration with agricultural universities and research institutes,” the drone manufacturer said today.
Having been awarded a type certificate for AG 365 model, the drone is now eligible for INR 10 lakh unsecured loans from the Agriculture Infrastructure Fund (AIF) at a minimal 5-6 per cent interest rate. Further, a 50-100 per cent subsidy can be availed from the Government of India. The made-in-India Kisan Drone – AG 365 has been developed particularly for agricultural purposes to reduce crop loss, lower agrochemical usage, better yield and profits to the farmers, the company said.
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In addition, Marut Drones have been accorded RPTO (remote pilot training organisation) approvals which enables training and capacity building of drone pilots focussed on safe agriculture operations, repair and maintenance. Marut Drones is tying up with major universities to enable drone pilots with high-quality training and with this, it sees a vision of the development of two lakh drone entrepreneurs in rural India. According to DGCA, RPTO is an organisation authorised by the DGCA to impart remote pilot training to any individual seeking for a remote pilot certificate under Rule 34 of Drone Rules 2021.
DGCA certification is provided on the basis of quality checks and is issued after a testing process of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) in various NABL-accredited testing labs. This makes UAV go through a series of material, environmental, and operational tests for safe, secured and reliable operations. The certification enables the Hyderabad-based firm to bring the users their agricultural drone technology which can revolutionise Indian agriculture.
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Marut focuses on infusing the right science into agriculture working with more than five agricultural universities including Professor Jayashankar Telangana State Agricultural University (PJTSAU) and International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) to bring new technological advancements to the field of agriculture. Over the past three years, AG 365 drone is scientifically tested for the development of crop-specific SOPs for safe and reliable usage in agriculture. AG 365 is designed to be a multi-utility drone catering to the various operations in agriculture from crop protection through spraying, and direct seeding to replace the cumbersome and expensive transplantation process in rice and also for rapid afforestation purposes. Marut’s product is extensively tested on the field of 1.5 lakh acres in 10 states across India.
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Highlighting the development, Prem Kumar Vislawath, Founder, Marut Drones said, “Marut Drones has been taking steps in line with its vision of advancing agriculture. Manual spraying in agriculture has caused huge negative health impacts on operators. And a mindless repetition of these sprays is inhumane exposing the operator to chemicals and leading to cancers. With both type certification and RPTO approvals by DGCA, the manual inhumane operations can be easily performed by drone making it safe to the operator. This also creates new job opportunities in rural areas. A drone entrepreneur using this drone can earn anywhere between Rs.40,000 to Rs.90,000 enabling him to work in the comfort of his home making a positive impact on farmers.”
Underlining the AG 365 drone, Suraj Peddi, Co-Founder, Marut Drones said, “All the drones in the market can only be used for a single purpose like spraying pesticides in the farms. Understanding the ground reality of farmers, for better ROI and product experience we have built the first multi-purpose drone. Our AG 365 is similar to tractors and one can do more than just spraying by changing the attachment. This will give better ROI to the user and the drone can be used across years for different purposes in agriculture.”
