An awareness programme and field day was organised on 26th August 2025 at Nedunuru village, Kandukuru mandal, Rangareddy district. To create awareness among farmers about drone-based agricultural technologies, particularly drone spraying with the use of nano-fertilizers, the programme was jointly organized by the Department of Agriculture and KVK Rangareddy, ICAR-CRIDA, Hyderabad.
Dr. Chandrakant M.H., Senior Scientist & Head of KVK Rangareddy, briefed that drone technology is not just a tool for spraying, but a transformative innovation that solves multiple challenges faced by farmers today. He highlighted how drones ensure timely input application even in adverse field conditions, reduce dependence on manual labour and protect farmer health by reducing direct exposure to chemicals. He also pointed out that drones help in precise input management, thereby saving resources and increasing nutrient use efficiency.
Dr. S. Vijaya Kumar, Subject Matter Specialist (Agricultural Engineering), explained the benefits of drone-based spraying in detail. He pointed out that drones cover fertilizers and pesticides uniformly, ensuring equal treatment to every part of the crop, which is very difficult to achieve with manual spraying. He highlighted how drones significantly reduce the time and effort required, enabling large areas to be covered in a few minutes compared to the many hours required with traditional methods. According to him, drones are beneficial for categories of crops, under this scheme, we have focused on cotton, maize, paddy and tomato, where timely application and uniformity are very important.
Dr. T.V. Prasad, Principal Scientist (Plant Protection), focused on the role of nano-fertilizers in rice cultivation, especially in strengthening plant health and increasing natural resistance to pests. He explained that since rice is a water-intensive crop, there is often nutrient loss due to leaching and runoff. Nano fertilizers, with their slow and controlled release mechanism, can help overcome this problem by ensuring consistent nutrient availability throughout the crop cycle. He highlighted that healthy plants with balanced nutrition are better able to resist pest attacks, thereby reducing the dependence on chemical pesticides.
Dr. B. Bhargavi, Scientist (Agronomy), discussed the use of nano-fertilizers in maize, explained in detail the appropriate stages and timings for their application. She highlighted that in maize, when the nutrient demand is high, nano urea should be applied during the active vegetative stage (25-30 days after sowing), which helps in strong growth and better leaf development. A second spray can be given from the tassling to silking stage, which helps in grain filling and improves the final yield.
Dr. Gautam Veer Chauhan, SMS (Agronomy), discussed the potential of drone spraying in cotton and rice for scaling precision agriculture. He highlighted that drones enable farmers to apply inputs with high accuracy, uniformity and timeliness, which are key pillars of precision agriculture. By reducing input wastage and optimizing resource utilization, drones enable small and medium farmers to make precision farming practices accessible, thereby improving productivity and sustainability at scale.
Smt. Y. Lavanya (Agriculture Officer, Kandukuru Mandal), facilitated field-level interactions with farmers and encouraged them to actively participate in demonstrations. She explained the government support schemes, subsidies and training opportunities available for adopting drone services and nano fertilizers. She motivated the farmers to gradually integrate these technologies into their regular practices and assured them of continuous guidance from the Agriculture Department. Her talk boosted the confidence of the farmers to adopt modern, eco-friendly farming practices.
During the event, live demonstrations of drone spraying with nano fertilizers were held in the farmers’ fields, where 7 farmers (4 maize and 3 rice growers) directly participated in the field level activities. Young professionals, Shri D. Suneeth and Shri D. Sai Kumar, were actively involved in coordinating the demonstrations and explaining the technical aspects of drone operations to the farmers. Prominent local farmers like Shri Mallesh, Shri Mathias Reddy, Shri Anjaiah and Shri Samuel Reddy also participated in the event. In total, around 30 farmers attended the event and actively participated in the discussions and demonstrations.
