Drone technology has recently been introduced in Cambodia’s cassava cultivation to help smallholder farmers achieve better yields while reducing farm output costs.
Cassava is the most important agro-industrial crop in Cambodia, providing jobs and livelihoods to thousands of rural workers. Supporting the national cassava policy, XAG is reinvigorating the sector with its agricultural drones that can use less water and chemicals and ease the workload on farms.
A major step forward in productivity
Widely cultivated on over 600,000 hectares of farmland in Cambodia, cassava covers the second largest cultivated area after rice and contributes 4% to GDP. However, cassava cultivation traditionally involves a labor-intensive and time-consuming process. To meet the growing demand for cassava products, including food, flour, paper and alcohol, Cambodian farmers have rapidly expanded their cropland and begun using XAG’s agricultural drones to increase productivity.
Chhay Thi is the first adopter of drone spraying, with a 20-hectare plot in Warin District, Siem Reap Province, Cambodia. In May, he ordered services from local partner XAG Red Sparrow Cambodia and had an XAG Agricultural Drone automatically spray his 10-hectare cassava field.
Unlike large agricultural machinery, drones can be easily transported and deployed to the field. After the tank is filled with herbicide, the XAG agricultural drone flies automatically when you command it with a tap on a mobile app.
The drone flies over the cassava field, spraying precisely along a pre-defined path and completing the 8-hectare herbicide spraying operation through unmanned control. In the past, the same amount of work would have taken workers more than a week to complete traditionally, but now the work can be done in an hour with a single agricultural drone.
Even though the agricultural sector maintains a sufficient workforce, farm owners are facing rising costs of up to $18-25 per hectare when they hire workers to spray pesticides. A group of farmers can only spray one hectare per day, which is difficult to cope with during the busy cassava growing season.
A safer option to combat rising costs
In addition to increasing efficiency, drones are helping farmers like Chhay Thi reduce overall crop costs. “If I have an XAG drone during the busy season to help me protect my crops, I can save $8-10 per hectare that I would have previously spent on manual spraying. Drone operations also reduce chemical use by 10-30%, so the resources and money saved can be used to grow other crops, according to Chhay Thi, who witnessed the entire process of spraying with drones.
Agricultural drones have other benefits in closing the yield gap and protecting farmers from chemical exposure. The way drones spray from the air successfully prevents direct contact of large ground-based machinery with cassava crops, ensuring that pesticides or fertilizers can penetrate the plants well and avoid crop damage.
Cassava crops can grow to a height of one meter and sometimes taller than a person, but traditional spraying requires farmers to carry a backpack sprayer or drive a tractor into the field. Instead of requiring farmers to work on the ground, drones can eliminate the health risks of inhaling chemicals and pesticides.
In Chhay Thi’s hometown, many villagers grow cassava as their main source of income. “I believe that the high efficiency and affordability will accelerate the adoption of drones among more farmers. XAG’s agricultural drones will not only help me harvest more, but also serve other farmers who are also facing increasing demand for cassava.”
Cassava production, processing and export are key drivers of Cambodia’s agricultural economy. The “National Cassava Policy 2020-2025” issued by the Royal Government of Cambodia sets out to make the country a leading producer and processor of cassava products and a reliable supplier of cassava products for the regional and global markets.
Drone technology has shown various benefits to farm management, from increased crop yields, reduced pesticide use to protecting the well-being of rural workers. With Cambodia the world’s 10th largest cassava producer with plans for the future, XAG expects more cassava farmers to use agricultural drones and achieve better profits in a sustainable manner. PRNewswire
