Recently, the Plant Protection Department (Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development) in collaboration with the CropLife Vietnam Association and AgriDrone Vietnam Aviation Equipment Joint Stock Company organized a training course on spraying pesticides using unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV/Drone) for 30 officers from 14 organizations nationwide.

During the training course, officers were updated on new regulations on testing pesticides using drones, and provided with basic knowledge on the operating principles of flying devices in agricultural cultivation. Participants were able to directly test the operation of flying devices to spray pesticides in rice fields in Thuy Lam commune, Dong Anh district (Hanoi).

Deputy Director of the Plant Protection Department (Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development) Nguyen Quang Hieu assessed that participating in training sessions helps officers have the opportunity to access and better understand drones, which are applied in many different fields; as well as significantly improve the awareness of officers directly involved in pesticide testing activities. These officers will become instructors for their colleagues in the future, helping them to use drones optimally.

Notably, the accuracy of drone applications brings many benefits to farmers, helping to save input costs, improve human health, and improve the quality of agricultural products for consumption and export.

Compared to manual spraying with backpack sprayers, spraying with drones reduces water usage by more than 90%, reduces costs by about 50% while still ensuring equivalent (or even higher) control effectiveness and spraying speed is 30 times faster.

Currently, drones are used in agriculture in many countries around the world. Some common applications include mapping, crop inspection and monitoring, pesticide spraying, irrigation monitoring and livestock grazing.

In early 2023, the Plant Protection Department announced the issuance of Basic Standard TCCS 830:2022/BVTV on "Field testing of pesticides to prevent and control plant pests using drones". This is considered an important legal and technical basis for organizations conducting testing to develop processes and use drones for spraying pesticides.

According to CropLife Vietnam Chairman Dang Van Bao, drones are not only a technological step forward but also a solution to help farmers gradually switch to smarter and more sustainable farming habits and methods, in line with the current orientation of promoting high-tech agriculture of the Government and the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.

Along with organizing the training course, the Plant Protection Department and CropLife Vietnam published a technical document on Safety Guidelines for Spraying Pesticides Using Drones to disseminate and guide principles and safety precautions when using drones to spray pesticides.