Hundreds of agriculture drones will be launched in over 500 Thai communities to increase farmer’s efficiency and and productivity.
Nuttapon Nimmanphatcharin, president and CEO of Depa, explained that the project will subsidise the cost of the drones by 60% so that farmers in the communities are able to have their own eyes in the sky.
It will be down to the communities to find the remaining 40%, whether through a low-interest loan from Depa’s partner network, such as Bank for Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperatives, or through a village fund.
However, if any community’s financial situation prevents it from applying for a loan, Depa offers another option – a free drone, albeit on the condition that the demand for using drones in that area is greater than 4,000 rai (approximately 1,581.5 acres).
All the drones destined for the project are made by Thai companies and cost approximately 250 billion baht in total.
To avoid waste of resources, Depa has added more conditions that must be met. First, each community must send representatives to learn how to operate the drone and second, they must pass a test to obtain a drone operator’s license from the Civil Aviation Authority of Thailand before receiving a drone from Depa.
Source: The NATION