A Drone Technology Implementation Approach to Conventional Paddy Fields Application

Abstract

This paper proposes an approach to implementing modern technology farming, namely agricultural drones, to help farmers enhance crop spraying efficiency, with a case study on conventional paddy fields in West Kalimantan province, Indonesia. Traditional spraying operations in paddy fields are dangerous as operators must deal with prolonged and frequent exposure to toxic chemicals. In the field experiment, an agricultural drone sprayed fertilizer and pesticides in the 1.5 ha paddy field in Parit Keladi Village, Kubu Raya Regency, West Kalimantan, Indonesia. For fertilizer and pesticide spraying, the impact on the paddy was measured periodically, involving leaves length and tiller number, randomly in the same field. Implementation in the area shows that the ground area coverage by the spraying drone was 6-7.5 m when it had an altitude is 4 m, with four nozzles and a 1.6 l/m spraying flow rate. This study implemented drone technology in the conventional paddy field, one of the famous agricultural commodities in Indonesia and other Asian countries. With this agricultural drone technology approach, we believe that semi-modernization or even modernization of conventional paddy fields can be achieved and accepted by the farmer community to increase the efficiency of farming activities and pave the way for smart farming.