The long, bumpy road from ‘drone didis’ to ‘lakhpati didis’
Fertilizer companies have taken the lead in funding the first leg of a Central government programme that will train 1,000 women to own and operate drones for spraying pesticides. Maitri Porecha reports from Haryana on the initial challenges of the scheme
Amonth before farmers began their protest along the PunjabHaryana border, with the police dropping tear gas shells from dronebased launchers, Ram Raji, 36, had been issued a drone and an electric autorickshaw by a fertilizer company. Raji and several women like her were to spray liquid pesticide over the ripening wheat crop. But when the protests broke out, the drone operator from Qila Zafargarh village in Haryana’s Jind district was disappointed.
“There was a 12day Internet shutdown in the districts bordering Punjab and Haryana, including Jind. While working in the fields, I need an Internet connection for the GPS signal connecting to the drone,” she explains, standing in front of a field of wheat, and locking an acre to be sprayed on her remote control. February is a crucial month for spraying nano urea over the wheat crop, right before it flowers, and now, farmers feel it’s too late, Raji says. Each workday lost also means a loss of income.
Raji is one of the initial 1,000 drone didis selected by fertilizer companies from across India to be trained under the Central government’s Namo Drone Didi scheme to fly agricultural drones that will spray fertilizers over crops. Armed with a pilot’s licence from the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), they are meant to be seen as changemakers.
In November last year, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the decision to engage 15,000 women from rural selfhelp groups (SHGs), at an outlay of ₹1,261 crore, to cover the cost of drones and battery sets. This amount has not yet been spent, says a Central government official working closely with the scheme.
Over two months after the announcement, PM Modi interacted with the first 1,000 drone didis on March 11. However, officials say exact modalities and the future road map are still unclear. “The government has planned for another 6,000 drone didis to be trained in 202425, and another 8,000 in 202526,” the official says.
Costs to companies
The official adds that the cost of training the first batch of drone didis, equipping them with the drone and its components (four battery sets, a generator), and an electric autorickshaw is being borne by fertilizer companies like Indian Farmers Fertiliser Cooperative Limited (IFFCO) and Coromandel International Limited (CIL).
“IFFCO is supporting training and supply of equipment worth ₹42 crore at the rate of ₹14 lakh per woman, including the electric autorickshaw for 300 drone didis, while CIL is supporting another 200,” the official adds.
Among other companies that have assured a joint supply of 500 additional drones are Krishak Bharati Cooperative (KRIBHCO), Indian Potash Limited (IPL), Matix, Indorama India Private Limited, Brahmaputra Valley Fertilizer Corporation Limited, and the publicsector National Fertilizers Limited.
“The cost for each set of equipment (including a drone, four battery sets, a generator; excluding the electric autorickshaw) is ₹10 lakh, of which the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare has agreed to fund up to ₹8 lakh, while ₹2 lakh will have to be arranged by the SHG,” says the official, referring to the drone didis who will be trained after the first batch.
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The Haryana government will foot the bill for the service provided by the drone didis, promising them ₹400 for every acre sprayed. No other State has offered this. “In Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, and Telangana, farmers must spend their own money for spraying,” the Central government official says.
Raji was given a target of 257 acres in Julana block over two months. Her counterpart, Kavita Dhull, 35, in Rohtak district, had a target of 800 acres, of the 4,000 acres to be covered exclusively by drone didis out of the total two lakh acres.
However, in 40 days of work, between January 14 and February 25, Raji has been able to cover only 180 acres, averaging 4.5 acres per day, where she was supposed to cover six to eight acres every day. She is helped by her brotherinlaw, who drives the electric autorickshaw and assists her in operating the drone. “We are incurring EV charging costs and labour costs and are spending from our own pockets,” Raji says.
Farmer trials
To encourage farmers to apply to get their crops sprayed via drones, Haryana’s Agriculture Department, along with fertilizer companies, announced enrolment through the online portal, Meri Fasal Mera Byora. Farmers would also get a 1litre nano urea bottle at ₹100, instead of the ₹225 marked on the bottle, and a drone didi would visit the fields for spraying. One bottle, mixed in 10 litres of water, serves an acre.
Kuldip Singh Hooda, 40, is among a minority of 1,000odd farmers in Dhamar village, Rohtak district, who has a substantial landholding of 15 acres. Most others own land between two and four acres. “I had registered to get 15 acres sprayed. However, the drone didi who came sprayed six acres and said she didn’t have the time to do the rest. No one came again to spray the other nine acres,” he says.
Farmers in Haryana had a difficult 2023. Their rice crops were destroyed due to heavier than usual rain during the monsoon, between July and August. “Half our annual income has been washed away,” says Manjit Hooda, another farmer from Dhamar village. Manjit says he had tried registering on the portal, but his application did not go through; no one contacted him either.
For farmers to avail themselves of the subsidy, their farm will have to fall under the earmarked acreage allotted to drone didis, or else they will have to shell out ₹400 per acre. Many who are debtridden or those with small landholdings prefer to do the job manually, themselves or through lessexpensive hired labour.
Traditionally, farmers procure granular urea in sacks, each sack of 50 kg at a subsidised rate of ₹268. Labour costs for manual application is between ₹80 and ₹100 per acre, making the cost of fertilizer purchase and application no more than ₹368 per acre. If they choose to use the waterbased medicine through spray cans, the application is still ₹200 per acre, half of what the drone didis charge.
“A big landowner can afford drones, but there are only five to 10 such rich farmers in the village,” says Harinder Singh, in his mid40s, who owns two acres and farms on another 17 acres leased out from another landowner. “I don’t have enough money to build my own house. What use are drones for me?” he says.
The women’s challenges
Dhull makes her way down a bumpy
kuccha road of Dhamar village along with her assistant, who drives the electric autorickshaw, and then helps her unload the heavy metal box that contains the 25kg drone.
“I cannot venture into the fields alone, because of safety concerns. I need a helper who can drive the EV. The vehicle does not easily reverse, and has even toppled over. The drone weighs nearly 30 kg after being loaded with fertilizer and water. It takes two people to lug it around,” Dhull says. She pays her assistant ₹15,000 a month. “There is no provision for helpers in the scheme,” she says.
As soon as she covers three acres, she exhausts one charged battery set needed to fire up the drone. Dhull ends up charging four battery sets each day to finish her day’s work on the field.
“I spend nearly ₹500 to ₹600 each day on fuel to run the generator that charges the battery sets,” she says. She isn’t sure how the job will work out economically in the long run.
On paper though, the earnings are large: if each drone didi covers 20 acres a day for 200 days, her earnings, at ₹300 to ₹400 per acre, will be ₹12₹16 lakh per year.
Meanwhile, Dhull has sprayed nearly 600 acres in Rohtak, and is now waiting for her money to be reimbursed by the Haryana government for her services. Now that the wheat is flowering, there is a lull in work for two months. “Let’s see when we will get paid,” she says.