Indian women take to the skies as drone pilots

DW (English)

In rural India, women are training as drone pilots for the farming sector. But they're spraying chemical pesticides. Could this technology be used in better and less environmentally harmful ways to create a true win-win solution?

Transcript

00:00 Mourni is the only hilly region in Haryana state and it's where Ambika Rana lives.

00:08 Her days begin early so she can finish her chores in the morning.

00:15 And then she heads to a cosmetic store that she runs, which also doubles up as the village

00:20 drone centre.

00:24 Ambika is the only woman in the district who is authorised to fly a drone.

00:29 The villagers now call her Drone Didi or Drone Sister.

00:35 This happened because of a self-help group.

00:38 Ambika is one of more than 10,000 women across rural India who are being trained as drone

00:43 pilots for the farming sector.

00:47 The central government initiative was launched in March 2024.

00:51 The programme is being hailed as revolutionary and women are at the forefront.

00:56 Today Ambika is visiting a wheat field, where daily wage labourers normally carry out the

01:01 tasks that her drone will take over.

01:05 These can include monitoring the fields, spraying pesticides and sometimes sowing seeds.

01:11 She charges up to 200 rupees or the equivalent of 3 euros per acre.

01:17 It's very difficult to work in the mountains.

01:20 I have four and a half acres of farmland and it's tough for even two people to manage the

01:24 spraying together.

01:30 Virender has booked a slot with Ambika today to test the drone for spraying pesticides.

01:36 Since the programme is still in the pilot phase, the service is being offered to anyone

01:40 who might be interested in trying it.

01:46 I have four and a half acres of wheat.

01:48 How much time will it take?

01:51 One acre will take 15 to 20 minutes to spray.

01:59 Based on the size of the farm, it would take 90 minutes for all four and a half acres.

02:05 If we had done it manually, it would have taken an entire day.

02:09 I would have lost five or six hours.

02:19 Currently the costs of training, fertilizers and drones are being covered by some of the

02:24 largest fertilizer manufacturers in the country.

02:27 And not everybody is happy with the development.

02:32 Including Professor Vinod Kumar Chaudhary from Punjab University.

02:36 He believes the programme will increase the dependency on chemicals in the region, which

02:40 is harmful for the land and its people.

02:46 These drones will mostly be used to spray pesticides and fungicides which are harmful

02:50 to health.

02:51 Earlier, when farmers used a tractor or a tank for spraying, they could spray under

02:56 the plants.

02:57 But drones will cover the entire area from above.

03:00 So they'll miss the pests that tend to be hiding under the leaves.

03:04 That means the chance the pests will be eliminated will decrease and the use of pesticides will

03:08 continue to increase.

03:11 Then if you decrease the amount of chemicals, there will suddenly be an explosion of the

03:15 pest population.

03:16 According to Dr. Chaudhary, the increased dependency on chemical fertilizers and pesticides

03:25 will inevitably work against the interests of the farmers, while generating more profits

03:31 for manufacturing companies.

03:34 Gradually, farmers will realize their overall costs are increasing.

03:40 There's very little chance of something like this benefiting the farmers in the long run.

03:45 The only beneficiaries will be the companies.

03:47 It would have been better if drones were used to spray organic fertilizers.

03:52 Organic fertilizers could help reduce the environmental and health impact.

03:56 But there are still open questions.

03:58 Who would pay for those fertilizers?

04:01 Would there be enough for all the farmers who need them?

04:05 In any case, the drone program has already had some positive social impact.

04:14 Some people in society look negatively at a woman if she steps outside of her home.

04:20 They don't even care what kind of work she's doing.

04:24 But since I've received the drone, the negative attitude of people has turned much more positive.

04:35 Self-help groups like these plan to train more women and help empower them.

04:40 If the impact on health, the environment and on jobs is addressed, this program could be

04:45 a huge support to the people who do the hard work of farming in India.

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