Agricultural drones are transforming rice farming in the Mekong River delta

From the article:

XAG Mekong gives farmers two options: buy a drone and operate it autonomously, or hire pilots to provide the machine and manage operations. The drones can be configured to scatter seed, spray pesticide, or spread fertilizer. The farmer or pilot first fills the drone with the right amount of material. Then, once the operator has set the parameters and mapped the field, using a mobile phone application, the machine runs automatically and returns when supplies run out. The machines can cut the labor requirements for managing some aspects of crop production by at least half.

Because drones spray or scatter the ideal concentration uniformly over a precise area, farmers require less pesticide and fertilizer than they would if applying materials by hand, says XAG engineer Long Hung. This precision in turn reduces how much of the additives end up in the soil and flush into the river and out to the sea.

“Moreover, you don’t have to step into the crop and risk ruining physically the field,” he says.

Several other companies now supply agricultural drones to the area, and XAG estimates that Vietnam has as many as 4,000 in operation. “I am still surprised at how quickly the popularity of drones has grown in the area in recent years,” says Lê Quốc Trung.

...

Drone use in the Mekong delta region ramped up in 2020 partly because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Lockdown gave farmers time to research buying a drone or hiring a pilot, prompted by ads on social media. And many young people who had left home because they didn’t want to work the rice fields, finding it unrewarding and tiring, returned from cities to be close to family. When they discovered the drone-pilot profession, they saw an opportunity to use technology to engage in farming without the heavy physical strain.