With 8 years’ effort of XAG to promote smart agriculture, drones flying above the field to perform farm works have been gradually adopted in many regions. To meet farmer’s need for a large-capacity drone, XAG officially makes its P100 Agricultural Drone available for sales globally. This fully autonomous drone has multiple uses around the farm, such as spraying pesticides, spreading fertilizers and broadcasting seeds, to boost yield and lower costs.
As one of the fast-growing markets for agricultural drone, Vietnam becomes the first to witness the rising force of XAG P100. With the payload upgraded to 40 kg, the drone can serve larger fields more effectively to address labor shortage. In the meantime, drone pilot is seen as the new favored career for rural youth, who can harness technology to make a good fortune.
Nhan, a farmer who owns a 70-hectare rice field in the Bac Ninh Province of Vietnam, used to suffer from unstable yield and profit decline. He was not content with the performance of manual spraying that was costly and inefficient. As the cost of hiring workers had posed great pressure on his livelihood, he ordered services from KPT Fly Team to help him cultivate rice with XAG’s drone.
“Before approaching us, Nhan hired 20 to 25 workers to spray pesticides manually, but this often led to uneven spraying and waste of chemicals. Now because we have the tool of preventing pests more effectively, our team becomes his first option to reap harvest,” said by 30-year-old Khuong, KPT’s co-founder.
“With two XAG P100 agricultural drones, two small teams consisting of only 4 to 6 people can finish the fieldwork much faster and easier. While the drone sprays evenly and penetrate the rice crops more quickly, it can also spread seeds and fertilizers. Our service has helped him reduce labor cost and improve the yields.”
According to the World Bank, employment in agriculture in Vietnam has fallen from 65% to 36 % over the last two decades. Such labor outflow is also speeding up in many other major agricultural countries. Young people in rural areas move to the city for a more decent job, and in face of rural aging, farmers complain that it is getting more difficult to hire workers to manage their rice fields.