Coromandel International on Monday said it has provided 200 drones to women members of Self Help Groups and also provided training to operate them.
Coromandel International Ltd is one of the leading agri-solutions providers. It operates in two major segments: nutrient and other allied businesses and crop protection. These include fertiliser, crop protection, bio-products, specialty nutrients and organic businesses.
In a statement, the company said it has delivered 200 drones to women from Self Help Groups (SHGs), towards modernising farming.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi virtually handed over 1,000 drones, including 200 drones supplied by Coromandel International, to the members of various SHGs, it added.
The company said the drones will be used by the women SHG members in Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Karnataka. The company has also trained the local women pilots to operate these drones.
Commenting on the initiative of providing drones to women, Anoop Upadhyay, Co-Founder of drone maker IoTechWorld Avigation, said the drone technology is a game-changer for farmers, saving them time, water, and money.
"We believe it can increase their income by 20-25%. For this reason, the government and the Prime Minister are promoting Drone Didi to empower women at the grassroots level. This is likely to increase the livelihood and income of rural women," he said.
Upadhyay hoped that demand for drones in rural area would increase substantially in the near future.
In a separate statement, drone manufacturer Marut Drones said it has trained 150 SHG women in agri drone technology operated AG365 drones at the Namo Drone Didi event.
The 'Namo Drone Didi' scheme is aimed at empowering rural women by training them to be drone pilots and making them integral stakeholders of the local farming supply chains. As part of the scheme, the government aims to help 15,000 women-led SHGs with agricultural drones for crop monitoring, spraying fertilisers and crop protection chemicals.
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