Drone helps grow pomelo

An agricultural drone slowly takes off. In a Majia pomelo garden in Danan Town, Guangfeng District, Shangrao City, Jiangxi Province, instructor Liu Pei led a fruit farmer trainee to circle the flight plot on the mobile App, set the flight speed, flight height and drug dosage per mu, and began to operate the UAV for plant protection operations. With the strong airflow of the propeller, tiny water mist is evenly sprayed on the fruit trees.

This was the third time that Liu Pei was invited to Guangfeng District for UAV training. More than 20 Majia pomelo farmers came to learn the theoretical knowledge and operation practice of UAV. According to Liu Pei, trainees can start training in 3 to 4 days, and they can consult at any time when they encounter problems.

It is understood that Ma Jia pomelo industry is the leading agricultural industry in Guangfeng District, with a planting area of more than 190,000 mu. At this time is in Ma Jia pomelo swelling period, Manshan Ma Jia pomelo with orange fruit bag. Fingers weigh the fruit lightly, feeling heavy.

“In the past, when farmers used traditional plant protection methods, one person could only work 3 mu to 5 mu a day, which was difficult to catch up with agricultural hours.” Xu Weifeng, deputy director of the fruit industry management office of Guangfeng District, introduced that through visiting and learning, Guangfeng District found that the application of drones meets the needs of modern agriculture, and purchased two Jifei agricultural drones in May. Today, one person and one machine can work 200 mu to 300 mu a day.

In addition to saving time and effort, two drones have also played a big role in this year’s drought. Zhu Xinrong, head of Xinrong Planting and Breeding Cooperative in Guangfeng District, calculated a sum of money: “It would take 18,000 jin of water to fertilize 460 mu of land by manual operation, but now it only takes 4,000 jin to 5,000 jin of water for UAV operation.” Peng Jingjun, a technician with Guangzhou Jifei Technology Co., LTD, said agricultural drones use centrifugal atomization and precise flow control technology to spray more accurately and evenly, thus saving a lot of water.

Yao Xianwen, 19, is a big fan of drones and one of the earliest participants in Guangfeng district. Now, he is very good at operating agricultural drones. He has helped more than 30 farmers and carried out UAV plant protection operations for more than 1,000 mu of farmland.

In order to change the traditional planting concept of fruit farmers, the Majia Pomo Industry Association of Guangfeng District reduced the price of agricultural UAV operation for local farmers to 10 yuan per mu. At present, the two drones have operated more than 50,000 mu of orchards, benefiting more than 100 farmers. It is understood that the local fruit farmers are also encouraged to participate in the new farmer training program, through the Ma Jia pomelo cultivation technology training, training farmers technicians and new agricultural business subject of more than 30,000 people.

According to statistics, the financial investment of agricultural and rural informatization in Shangrao City has reached 420 million yuan this year, and 347,300 UAVs have been used to carry out disease and insect control, with a working area of 4.167 million mu. The annual fund subsidy for UAV to carry out the unified control of crop diseases and insect pests can reach 12.53 million yuan.