# Use of Drone is Boon for Sugarcane Cultivation

Ajeet Kumar, C.K. Jha, S. K. Sinha, Shiva Pujan Singh, Kumari Sunita

► To cite this version:

Ajeet Kumar, C.K. Jha, S. K. Sinha, Shiva Pujan Singh, Kumari Sunita. Use of Drone is Boon for Sugarcane Cultivation. Agriculture & Food: E-Newsletter, 2021, pp.380-381. hal-04935055

HAL Id: hal-04935055

https://hal.science/hal-04935055v1

Submitted on 7 Feb 2025

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# Use of Drone is Boon for Sugarcane Cultivation

Article ID: 11434

Ajeet Kumar<fnref n="1" />, C. K. Jha<fnref n="1" />, S. K. Sinha<fnref n="1" />, Shiva Pujan Singh<fnref n="2" />, Kumari Sunita<fnref n="3" />

## Abstract

Drones have revolutionized agriculture by offering farmers major cost savings, enhanced efficiency, and more profitability. By quickly surveying vast stretches of farmland, drones can map the property, report on crop health, improve spraying accuracy, and monitor sugarcane cultivation with respect to weedicide, pesticide and irrigation systems.

## Introduction

The adoption of modern technologies in agriculture, such as the use of drones or Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) can significantly enhance risk and damage assessments and revolutionize the way for management of sugarcane cultivation for waterlogged condition. DRONE (Dynamic Remotely Operated Navigation Equipment) is a device which can fly either with the help of autopilot and GPS coordinates on the pre-set course or can be operated manually with radio signals using the remote control or smartphone app. With the availability of so many sensors, drones can detect the things which are beyond the visible range of human sight. Therefore, real-time, more accurate, reliable, and objective information can be derived from drones in greater detail and fewer errors.

Presently, farmers are facing many problems like unavailability or high cost of labours, health problems by coming in contact with chemicals (fertilizers, pesticides, etc.) while applying them in the field, bite by insects or animals, etc. In this context, drones can also help farmers in avoiding these troubles. Drones are nowadays emerging as a component of precision agriculture along with contributing to sustainable agriculture. Various sensors are used in the drones based upon the purpose. Mostly the sensors sensitive to the following bands of electromagnetic waves are used in agriculture:

1. **Red, Green, and Blue (RGB) bands:** These bands are used for counting the number of plants, for modeling elevation, and visual inspection of the crop field.

2. **Near Infra-Red (NIR) band:** This band is used for water management, erosion analysis, plant counting, soil moisture analysis, and assessment of crop health.

3. **Red Edge band (RE):** It is used for plant counting, water management, and crop health assessment.

4. **Thermal Infra-Red band:** This band has applicability in irrigation scheduling, analyzing plant physiology, and yield forecasting.

## Applications

**Soil and plant study:** Drones can be used to mount sensors which are able to analyze the soil conditions, terrain conditions, moisture content, nutrients content and fertility levels of the soil which can be further used for planning the pattern of sowing of different crops, irrigation scheduling as well as for managing fertilizers application considering spatial variability of the crop growth and field conditions.

**Monitoring of sugarcane crop:** Drones can be used for monitoring of sugarcane throughout the crop season so that the need-based and timely action can be taken. The quick and appropriate action can prevent yield loss. This technology will eliminate the need to visually inspecting the crops by the farmers. The data acquired by drones during cane monitoring could be used to compute vegetation indices, which can be integrated with weather forecast data and soil fertility data.

**Weed management:** Drones can be used to identify the weeds present in the field. These weeds could be timely rooted out from the field so that they do not compete for resources with the main crop.

<footnote n="1">¹Assistant Professor-cum- Scientist; Department of Soil Science, Sugarcane Research Institute, Dr. RPCAU, Pusa (Samastipur), Bihar.</footnote>

<footnote n="2">²Assistant Professor-cum- Scientist; Department of Agricultural Economics, Sugarcane Research Institute, Pusa (Samastipur), Bihar.</footnote>

<footnote n="3">³SMS (Home Science), KVK, Madhopur, West Champaran, Bihar.</footnote>
**Foliar spraying:** Drones can be used to spray chemicals like fertilizers, pesticides, etc. based on the spatial variability of the crops and field. The amount of chemicals to be sprayed can be adjusted depending upon the crop conditions, or the degree of severity of the insect-pest attack. Fertilizer and insecticide can also be applied during waterlogging condition to save the crop cane in adverse condition. In this way, drones pave the pathway to precision agriculture. This ultimately increases the efficiency of the chemicals applied, thereby reducing their adverse impacts on the environment by decreasing the soil and water pollution. Thus, it can lead towards sustainable sugarcane cultivation.

**Irrigation scheduling of crops:** Drones having sensors for optical, multispectral, and thermal imaging which can pinpoint the heat and water stress in the crops at a specific location. It may be used to apply irrigation to the crops based on their requirement. This will prevent the wastage of water and will ensure the efficient utilization of irrigation water.

**Crop health assessment:** Using different kinds of sensors pertaining to visible, NIR and thermal infrared rays, different multispectral indices can be computed based on the reflection pattern at different wavelengths. These indices can be used to assess the conditions of crops like water stress, insect-pest attack, diseases, etc. The sensors present over the drones can see the incidence of diseases or deficiency even before the appearance of visible symptoms like yellow leaf disease in sugarcane or smut of sugarcane, drones can be used for detection of percentage of disease incidence. The incidence of newly emerging insects and disease in Bihar like yellow leaf disease in sugarcane or Pokkah Boeng, fall army worms can be regularly monitored. Thus, it serves as a tool for early detection of the diseases and infestations of pests.

**Protecting the field from animal damage:** The thermal cameras mounted over drones can detect animals or human beings during the night. So, it can be used to protect fields from the damage caused by animals, which are otherwise difficult to detect in the large fields during night time. So, it will work more efficiently than human guards.

Conclusion

Drones are aircraft devices that are capable of flying and carrying materials above the ground. Drones are very popular because mass media networks patronize its functionality and efficiency when capturing videos and images. Thus, drone may be used to suggest appropriate application of fertilizers/ pesticides at right time before large scale incidence of insect pest and diseases and correction of nutrients deficiency symptoms.