India’s one of the leading manufacturers of agricultural drones, IoTechWorld Avigation, has secured an order from farmer cooperative major IFFCO to supply 500 drones, which will be primarily used to spray nano liquid urea and nano DAP (Diammonium Phosphate), the drone maker announced today.
Recently, Indian Farmers Fertiliser Cooperative (IFFCO) announced its plans to procure 2,500 drones for spraying its products nano urea and nano DAP. IFFCO also plans to create 5,000 rural entrepreneurs, who would be trained for spraying through drones.
Gurugram-headquartered IoTechWorld, manufacturer of DGCA-type certified drone ‘AGRIBOT’, has been co-founded by Deepak Bhardwaj and Anoop Upadhyay. IoTechWorld is also backed by a leading agrochemical company, Dhanuka Agritech.
“We are indeed privileged to receive the single biggest order for the purchase of Krishi-drones from IFFCO. The company will deliver 500 drones to IFFCO by December 2023,” said Upadhyay.
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He further said that since IoTechWorld’s inception, the endeavour has been to promote technological innovation in the field of agriculture and the company is the pioneer of Kisan-drones in the country.
Elaborating on the supply order, co-founder Bhardwaj said, the drone market is rapidly growing and there has been a tremendous demand from various organisations including fertiliser and pesticide companies as well as from rural entrepreneurs including farmers.
“Our AGRIBOT (Agri drone) has been specially designed and programmed for fertilisers. The order from IFFCO is a testament of our strength in the agri-drone segment. Our target is to help farmers and agri entrepreneurs in the implementation of made in India nano urea and nano DAP newly launched by IFFCO,” he said.
Besides IFFCO, IoTechWorld Avigation has also partnered with Syngenta and has undertaken 17,000 km of drone yatra in various parts of the country.
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“We are expecting 5-6 times more demand in the current fiscal compared to last year with a target of selling more than 3,000 drones in this fiscal year. We are also exploring opportunities for exports. The Government’s recent decision to liberalise the export policy for drones opens up a gamut of opportunity, and there is a huge demand in overseas markets,” Upadhyay added.
The company is also in discussion for exporting drones in regions like SAARC, South East Asia, Latin America, Europe, Australia, New Zealand, Brazil, Oman, Bangladesh, Vietnam, Philippines, Nepal, and Africa, which are the focus countries of IoTech export sales, the drone company said.
The company is also focusing on creating awareness about the benefits of using drones in agriculture. IoTech has also set up several remote pilot training organisations (RPTOs) where people are trained to fly drones.
“These agricultural drones not only save time and money but also increase farm productivity. Besides, the use of drones in farming activities, like spraying pesticides over crops, has health benefits for farmers,” Bhardwaj said.
The company along with its partners is also focusing on creating village-level entrepreneurs and helping in establishing remote pilot training organisations across the country, he added.
