MARGAO
Is your transplanted paddy damaged after remaining submerged under water following the recent rains? Hold on. The drone technology could be an answer to revive the damaged crop.
In fact, the Paddy Man of Goa, Fr George Quadros and his team descended at the Tolleaband water body at Benaulim on Friday morning to effectively use the drone technology to revive the damaged paddy transplanted just 20 days ago. And, Fr Quadros pointed out that the technology adopted at the Tolleaband fields could be a model to revive damaged paddy at other places as well.
“The farmers of Tolleaband are good farmers. They have been facing a lot of issues thrown up by the construction of the western bypass through their fields. We had done the transplanting around 20 days ago. The fields looked beautiful, but then came the rains, flooding the fields for so many days,” Fr Quadros said.
He added: “We were all feeling sad after the paddy was all submerged under way and was damaged. Hence, we made a study and it was decided to make effective use of the drone technology to revive the paddy and showcase as a model to be adopted in other areas where the paddy was left damaged by rains.”
Saying that the drone will undertake special spraying of urea plus over the fields to revive the damaged paddy, he said the exercise will also control the weeds, which has made an extensive presence in the fields after the rains.
“We will do the follow up in the fields over a period of time. Since we have the technology with us, why not use it to revive the fields. Even at our expense, we can revive the fields so that the farmers do not leave the fields,” he said, adding that the programme has been supported by ICAR in terms of equipment and financial assistance.
