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In a move that can boost technology driven farming, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has asked banks to start financing the purchase of Kisan Drones.
“RBI has advised State Level Bankers Committees across the country to encourage banks to lend for purchase of Kisan Drones,’‘ a senior RBI official told businessline.
The RBI’s direction to banks is in line with the Union Budget 2022-23 which said the use of ‘kisan drones’ would be promoted for crop assessment, digitisation of land records and spraying of insecticides and nutrients.
Unit costs
Subsequently, National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (Nabard) has finalised the unit costs for Kisan Drones. The banks can use the unit costs as the basis for financing kisan drones to individuals and farmer producer organisations (FPOs) and improve access to a large number of farmers, the RBI advised banks.
The unit cost of a drone can reach up to a maximum of ₹10 lakh depending on the type of the drone. The Centre and the State Governments would provide a 40 per cent subsidy per drone jointly as per the latest norms.
When contacted an official of the Union Bank of India said the awareness of use of drones by farmers and the technical expertise is yet to be created fully but some enquiries have begun for loans.
Scheme
Sources in the banking industry said the banks have already started. Public sector Union Bank has recently sanctioned a loan of ₹7 lakh under the ‘Union Agri Infrastructure Loan scheme’ to a farmer in Haryana at 8.5 per cent interest rate. Some banks seem to be considering an interest subvention of 3 per cent to make it easier for FPOs to acquire a drone.
As per the Kisan Drone scheme, the Nabard would also extend necessary skill development support to the unemployed rural youth to function as drone operators.
Why drones
Prem Kumar, Founder and Chief Innovator of Marut Drones, said that it is quite important to have an affordable financial tool to make the usage of drones popular.
“They cost the same as a car or tractor. It will be difficult for a farmer or for an FPO or anyone who wants to start a drone servicing startup to offer spraying services to farmers,” he said.
Besides manufacturing over 170 drones so far, the drone company is managing spraying activity on about 30,000 acres in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana for some corporate companies and FPOs. It is also into training of people in using the drones.
“A typical agri drone can service 20 acres in a day. At about ₹500 per acre, the operators make a decent income,” he said.
Economical
C Sudhakar, Principal Scientist at Prof. Jayashankar State Agricultural University’s Research Station at Tandoor, felt that drones proved to be quite useful in spraying over redgram and safflower crop.
“At times, the crops grow so tall and dense that it’s very difficult to spray pesticides or fertilisers, using the conventional methods. Besides, they prove to be economical as they cut costs by reducing physical labour and requirement of inputs,” he said.
(With inputs Subramani Ra Mancombu)
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