Drone-based field demonstrations and farmer’s response towards precision spraying technology in Jammu and Kashmir

Abstract

The Agricultural Technology Application Research Institute (ATARI), Zone I, facilitated drone demonstrations across different districts of Jammu division to promote awareness and adoption among farmers. In this project, KVK- Jammu has facilitated the drone with a target of covering the 250 hectares of land through drone demonstrations. This target was successfully achieved with 184 demonstrations, covered 256 hectares area and reaching to 18,599 farmers. Among different demonstrations, the application of nano urea and herbicide spraying constituted the highest share (33%) whereas among the crops the wheat and paddy showed the highest share (35%). The maximum demonstrations and farmers gathering were takes place during 2025 due to large-scale awareness campaigns and training programmes. This results revealed that it helps in time savings, reduced labour requirement, and more judicious application of inputs such as glyphosate, nano urea plus, and sticker formulations. In this aspect, the majority of the farmers agreed on better performance of this technology in comparison with others and also improve their knowledge by 60-70%. This helps in effective management of Saccharum spontaneum (Sarkanda) weed by optimized chemical use. Although, the several constraints faced by farmers for individual ownership of drones may be due to small landholdings and financial conditions but they showed strong interest in accessing drone services through government-supported schemes. These findings indicate that drone technology can significantly enhance operational efficiency and promote precision agriculture in the region, highlighting the need for policy support and service-based delivery models to strengthen adoption.