Half of a wheat field of 73 ha in the village of Onitcani will be treated with herbicides using a drone, and the other – with a sprinkler and a tractor. The land belongs to the experimental didactic station “Criuleni”. The station has a total of 570 ha of agricultural land, where they cultivate, besides wheat, corn, mustard, sunflower etc., IPN reports, quoting a press release of UNDP Moldova.
“We want make a comparison. Last year we treated the corn sow seeds, and the results were just right. That is why this year we are testing the wheat field,” said the station’s administrator Alexandru Zolotco. “Everything that a sprinkler does, a drone can do, too. The difference is that it takes 10 liters of water (used to dissolve herbicides) per hectare for the drone, while the tractor needs 200 liters of water to do the same job.”
Vitalie Sacară, the founder of DRON Assistance, said that in 2021, they sprayed 11,000 ha of agricultural land and estimated that farmers in the Republic of Moldova can save 1,500 tons of pesticides annually and between 100-150 euros per hectare by avoiding mechanical losses and making actual savings from more a more effective spraying.
Vitalie Sacară noted that with the financial support provided by UNDP Moldova as part of the “Accelerating digital transformation in the public sector of the Republic of Moldova” program, the company purchased a drone equipped with RTK (real-time kinematic) technology that allows mapping and multi-spectral analysis of cultures in real time by recording GPS coordinates and images with embedded geotags. Thanks to this technology, farmers can now easily detect outbreaks of weeds, pests, and diseases, and, can intervene only where it is needed to prevent the spread of the problem.
Agricultural drones, which fly 2-4 meters above the crop, sprinkle on average up to 40 per cent less active substance (herbicides dissolved in water) and the technology of very small droplets allows more uniform and more accurate spraying.
