Yancheng-made drone takes to the fields to spray pesticide
Accompanied by a roaring sound, an unmanned aerial vehicle, under the remote control of an operator, rose into the air from the edge of the field, spraying milky-white mist as it flew, quickly spreading the prepared pesticide over a stretch of lush green rice. This was the scene Yancheng Evening News reporters witnessed at around 4 p.m. yesterday in Yuema Village, Yanlong Subdistrict, Yandu District.
"The drone carries a 10-liter pesticide tank underneath and sprays the pesticide through 3 pressure nozzles, completing the spraying of more than 10 mu of land in a single takeoff and landing. The pesticide flow rate is preset." Ren Zhaokun, the "pilot" wearing a mask and operating the drone, told reporters that the drone was carrying out routine conventional pesticide application on the rice, and that both flight speed and altitude could be adjusted, generally spraying at an altitude of 3 to 5 meters above the crops.
It is understood that this drone currently in flight operation is a genuine "Yancheng-made" product. "This is a '6-rotor pesticide spraying aerial vehicle,' an unmanned plant protection aircraft developed by our company specifically for large-scale planting. It can spray 1 mu of crops in 1 minute." Lu Hongxiang, general manager of Digital Eagle Technology Yancheng Co., Ltd., who was directing operations on site, told Yancheng Evening News reporters that this unmanned plant protection aircraft adopts an advanced spray system, and the atomization effect of its nozzles is several times that of ordinary nozzles. If the pesticide it sprays is not backlit, it is almost invisible to the naked eye.
This unmanned plant protection aircraft can operate about 300 mu of land per day. "Look, the rice has already headed out, and it will be harvested in less than two months. If farmers still had to carry sprayers back and forth through the rice fields, how hard that would be!" Lu Hongxiang said, pointing to the drone steadily approaching from the distance. Using drones for operations can effectively solve the practical problems commonly existing in current crop plant protection, such as low efficiency and inconvenient operation. Moreover, the downward airflow generated when the drone flies can also enhance the penetration of the pesticide liquid and improve the effect of preventing and controlling plant diseases and insect pests.
"This year is the first time Yandu District has conducted a drone plant protection trial, and we are also tracking and observing it. So far, the effect does indeed look good." Qiu Xueping, head of the Yandu District Plant Protection Station, who was on site guiding the spraying operation, affirmed the pesticide spraying effect of the drone. He believes that in the future drones will play an increasingly greater role in agricultural production.
Major grain grower Shen Chun contracted a total of 1000 mu of farmland this year. This time, he set aside 40 mu of rice fields for a "aerial plant protection" trial jointly carried out by Digital Eagle Technology Yancheng Co., Ltd. and the Yandu District Agriculture Committee, handing over all pesticide application during the rice growing process to the plant protection drone. "Last year, manual pesticide spraying was time-consuming and labor-intensive, and the effect was not very good. In summer, people were also prone to heatstroke and poisoning. Now labor costs are getting higher and higher. With the unmanned plant protection aircraft, we no longer have to worry about not being able to hire people during the busy farming season!" Shen Chun said that next year he plans to use "drones" to apply pesticides on all 1000 mu of farmland.
It is understood that this drone, model YM-6160, has a market price of about 90000 yuan, which is indeed quite expensive for ordinary grain growers. "The drones produced by our company are sold both to major domestic grain growers and to overseas markets such as South Korea, and are also rented out to cooperatives or farmers with smaller planting scales. The other party can entrust us to carry out unified prevention and control of diseases and insect pests. The full-process 'aerial plant protection' for Shen Chun's 40 mu of rice is one form of cooperation." Lu Hongxiang said that since Digital Eagle Technology Yancheng Co., Ltd. was established nearly a year ago, it has expanded the market through multiple forms. Only by letting users see real results will they recognize and purchase drones.
At the company located in Yancheng National High-tech Zone, Yancheng Evening News reporters found that this rotary-wing drone was only one of the models they researched, developed and produced. The company also has multiple fixed-wing drones similar in appearance to passenger aircraft. Lu Hongxiang introduced that in many people's impressions, drones still belong to the category of "high-end, sophisticated and advanced." "However, with the popularization of smart technology in daily life, in addition to being used for plant protection, drones are also widely applied to police security, remote sensing surveying and mapping, forest fire prevention, power line inspection, search and rescue, film and television advertising, and many other uses, with very broad market prospects." Author: Cao Hengfeng, Xu Qunqun