Krishi Vigyan Kendra, Samba of Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences & Technology of Jammu today organised its first-ever agricultural drone demonstration under the dynamic leadership of Prof. Bhupinder Nath Tripathi, Vice-Chancellor, SKUAST-Jammu and the direct supervision of Dr. S.K. Gupta, Director Extension SKUAST-Jammu.
KVK Samba of SKUAST Jammu today added another feather to its cap when it used a drone for the first time on the farmer’s field. The live demonstration of the drone operation was conducted under the supervision of District Police Samba as well as Sarpanch Panchayat Halqa Ghagwal and other progressive farmers.
It was another milestone of the University towards promoting precision agriculture in the region. Elaborating further Prof. Sanjay Khajuria, chief Scientist & Head, said that the agriculture sector in the country is moving towards precision farming and is witnessing use of drones for timeliness, accuracy and appropriateness of various farm operations as it results in an increase in yields as well as reduction in the cost of cultivation.
Prof Khajuria while deliberating upon the efficiency of the drone said that the drone with a payload of 10 Kilogram is fitted with all the latest Censors and GPS.He further disclosed that in the time to come, SKUAST-J will ensure a larger number of drones for performing various agricultural activities in different regions of the district.
For this the necessary demonstration by awareness and training programmes will be conducted and concerned scientists and other staff members. The live demonstration was witnessed by a large no. of farmers of the area. More than 150 progressive farmers of the district and media persons participated in the programme.
After the inauguration of the drone, Prof. Khajuria addressed the participants and stressed on the adoption of latest technology in agriculture for increasing its economic productivity, reducing environment pollution and for attracting youth to agriculture.
He also emphasized on custom hiring centers of the latest agricultural technology for easy access to the farming community. During the occasion, Ranjeet Singh, Engineer IOTECH World Avigation Pvt Ltd., has live demonstrated spray through Agri Drones on Paddy field at Village Raghuchack.
The programme concluded with vote of thanks by Dr. Saurav Gupta, Scientist (Entomology). The program was also assisted by Dr Amit Mahajan, Tejinder Singh and Pawandeep Singh of KVK Samba.