Drone does heavy work in paddies

– The next generation farmhand in Japan’s ageing rural heartland may be a drone.

For several months, developers and farmers in northeast Japan have been testing a new drone that can hover above paddy fields and perform backbreaking tasks in a fraction of the time it takes for elderly farmers.

“This is

Tome

unprecedented high technology,” said Isamu Sakakibara, a 69-year-old rice farmer in the Tome area, a region that has supplied rice to Tokyo since the 17th century.

Developers of the new drone say it offers high-tech relief for rural communities facing a shortage of labour as young people leave for the cities.

The drone can apply pesticides and fertiliser to a rice field in about 15 minutes – a job that takes more than an hour by hand and requires farmers to lug around heavy tanks.

The Nile-T18 was developed by drone startup Nileworks.

Their aim is to ease the physical burden and improve productivity in rural areas battling decades of migration. – Reuters