Department of Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel “Manny” Piñol. INQUIRER.NET/CATHY MIRANDA
LA TRINIDAD, BENGUET – A drone, that can spray a hectare of farmland with a liter of fertilizer in under 10 minutes, was demonstrated here on Friday (April 27) for upland vegetable gardeners by Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel Piñol, who wants technology to be part of the highland food growing process.
The drone owned by DMM Company Ltd. was flown over a strawberry farm of the Benguet State University.
Piñol offered to subsidize more drone-spraying operations on 5,000 hectares of vegetable farms selected by Benguet Gov. Cresencio Pacalso to show farmers the benefits of drone technology.
Farmers would need to pay P1,500 for every hectare of farm sprayed by the drones.
“There is always resistance from farmers when it comes to technology so we have to show them the benefits,” Piñol said.
Drone services could be part of the DA’s easy loan program, he said.
DMM and DA have an ongoing drone spray study involving white potatoes grown in Buguias town, also in Benguet province.
According to DMM, manual spraying in Japan takes 160 minutes per hectare.