Drone precise and efficient fertilization

At present, it is the crucial season for top dressing single season rice. Taking advantage of the sunny weather, Hengnan County Agriculture and Rural Affairs Bureau, in conjunction with the Agricultural Service Company, helped large grain growers seize the agricultural time, integrated and promoted new fertilization technologies, new products, new machines and tools, carried out mechanized fertilization of rice by agricultural drones, promoted the reduction and efficiency of fertilizer, and provided strong support for stable grain supply, green development, and rural revitalization.

In the high standard farmland demonstration area of Baishui Village, Chejiang Street, Hengnan County, the reporter saw that the operator was debugging the UAV broadcasting system and planning the fertilization route, and He Liyang, a grain grower, was also busy adding compound fertilizer to the UAV chassis. With a roar, the drone followed the set route and lightly skimmed over the rice field. Granular compound fertilizer was evenly sprayed under the fuselage, completing the spraying in just 5 minutes. At the same time, the drone also had a breakpoint flying function, achieving precise and efficient operation, achieving the effect of uniform spraying, no repeated application, and no missed application. I have transferred 1200 mu of arable land this year. In previous years, manual fertilization required 20 yuan/mu, but using drone fertilization only cost 8 yuan/mu, which can save labor costs of 12 yuan/mu. This alone saved 14400 yuan

According to on-site calculations, with a fertilizer dosage of 15 kilograms per acre, using a drone with a load capacity of 25 kilograms can complete the fertilization of nearly 300 acres of rice in one day. However, in the past, relying on manual operation, each person could complete up to 20 acres per day, and the spraying process was also uneven, which could easily cause local fertilizer concentration or lack of fertilizer.

“The use of drones for precise and efficient fertilization can save about 5% of fertilizer per mu. This year, the county will use drones to top up fertilizer, which is expected to be 400000 mu, saving 800000 yuan in fertilizer costs. It can also improve fertilizer utilization, reduce fertilizer use, and improve the soil environment.” Xie Chunlei, head of the soil and fertilizer workstation of Hengnan County Agricultural and Rural Bureau, introduced to reporters.

According to the requirements of the Action Plan for Chemical Fertilizer Reduction by 2025 issued by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs of Hengnan County, through the promotion of soil testing formula fertilization, Manure instead of chemical fertilizer, improvement of fertilization methods and other technical measures, the use of chemical fertilizer in the county has maintained a negative growth for six consecutive years. In 2022, the use of chemical fertilizer will be 44980 tons (net), 3617 tons (net) less than in 2016, a decline of 7.44%; In 2022, the fertilizer utilization rate of major grain crops such as rice in the county will reach over 40.7%, an increase of 6.7 percentage points compared to 2016. Effectively promoted the green, high-quality, and efficient development of agriculture and the continuous improvement of rural ecological environment. In the next step, Hengnan County will take measures such as “refining, adjusting, changing and replacing” as the starting point, continue to carry out the work of reducing fertilizer production and increasing efficiency, promote farmers to increase production and income, and comprehensively tamp the county’s food production security.