Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Drivers: Adding Wings to Industrial Development

Debugging, taking off, spraying, landing, and seeing Boucharemu Awla, she was expertly testing a plant protection drone in the field. Busharemu Awla, 37, is a villager from Langan Village, Yuqiwusitang Township, Kuqa City, Xinjiang. She works as a drone driver.

The drone pilot is a person who drives the drone to complete a given flight mission through remote control equipment. In recent years, with the maturity of drone technology, drone drivers have become a new profession, and agriculture, forestry and plant protection, electric power inspection, aerial surveying and mapping, film and television aerial photography, etc. have become popular fields of employment. “The application field of unmanned aerial vehicles is constantly expanding, bringing great changes to the traditional production and lifestyle, and has a broad market prospect,” said Busharemu Awla.

With the increasing promotion of plant protection drones, in recent years, at the end of March and the beginning of April, the key period of wheat rejuvenation and jointing, disease and pest control and management, the scene of plant protection drone operation can be seen everywhere in local fields.

Plant protection drones can replace artificial seed sowing and fertilizer application. The spraying of pesticides is not only uniform, with good atomization effect, not limited by crop growth and terrain, but also low cost, fast speed, and good control effect. Its operational efficiency can reach 30 to 50 times that of manual labor, saving over 30% of pesticides, and helping to reduce pesticide residues and environmental pollution.

The recently released “China Digital Rural Development Report (2022)” shows that in 2021, the national population of plant protection drones will be 121000, with an annual operation of 1.07 billion mu. With the continuous development of drone application fields and technologies, there is a strong demand for drone drivers, and this profession is increasingly favored by young people. “In the future, the application range of drones in the agricultural field will expand. This year, I will study Mandarin well, master more new skills, and strive to connect with more customers.” Busaremu Awla said confidently.