With the support of the Association "Ukrainian Club of Agrarian Business" and the Union of Ukrainian Entrepreneurs, the DroneUA group of companies initiated an appeal to the relevant ministries regarding the possibility of using airspace by spraying drones during the 2023 season for the purpose of agricultural operations.
Official letters of appeal on behalf of business associations were sent to the Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food, the Ministry of Economy and the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine.
The main goal: to develop a joint mechanism for informing and obtaining permits for carrying out work with aerial agricultural drones during the 2023 agricultural season.
Today, it is more important than ever to maintain a common information front and defend a market position: agricultural producers need spraying drones as an irreplaceable resource-saving tool that will ensure the strengthening of not only food security, but also the financial stability of farmers.
The overall effect of using agricultural drones in 2021 and 2022 was:
2.2 million hectares - the area of fields treated by spraying drones;
up to 350,000 tons – additional harvested crop thanks to crop protection by agro-drones;
more than 12.1 million liters – fuel savings thanks to the use of agricultural drones, compared to classic wheeled machinery;
up to 30.8 thousand tons – reduction of carbon emissions;
about 440,000 tons – saving water;
more than 1,000 jobs were saved under martial law.
If we calculate the implementation of one operation for the introduction of pesticides by drones on an area of 1 million hectares, which is 5.9% of the total area of grain and oil crops in Ukraine (16.85 million hectares, as of 2021), then we will get a total economic effect of 65 .55 million dollars.
Today, we are asking each of you to support this initiative and spread information as much as possible in your communication channels in social networks, share in profile groups, with media representatives.
Now it is necessary to create a powerful public discussion on the issue of opening the sky for agricultural drones. The entire 2023 agricultural season depends on this decision.
Letter of appeal to the Ministry of Agrarian Policy from UKAB
A letter of appeal to the Ministry of Agriculture, the Ministry of Economy and the Ministry of Defense from the SUP
The text of the appeal letter to UKAB from DroneUA
Importantly! We all understand that in the current environment, the security function is paramount. Unmanned technologies play a decisive role in it. The situation with local bans on the use of agricultural drones last season is primarily due to a lack of understanding of the differences between agricultural drones and civilian or military drones.
To correct this situation, we have prepared an informative guide, the main purpose of which is to explain the main differences between agricultural drones.
Download informational help.
Technical characteristics of agricultural drones/spraying drones used to apply plant protection products or perform other agrotechnological operations in agriculture:
Dimensions, min-max values (height*width*length): from 2 to 4 m
Maximum flight speed: up to 24 km/h at a height of 5 m
Tank volume: from 10 to 50 l
Availability of atomizers or nozzles for spraying the solution: 2 or more
Availability of overall aeronautical lights. If the work in the field is carried out in the dark, it can be seen at the maximum flight distance of the drone.
Working parameters for applying plant protection products:
The speed of movement is up to 24 km/h with a flight height above plants of up to 5 m
Flight path: mostly parallel tracks up to 1.3 km long
When returning to the service site (starting position), the speed is up to 15 km/h, the height is up to 10 m, depending on the terrain, the presence of technical obstacles (trees, power lines, etc.).
DroneUA is an international system integrator of unmanned solutions.
On the market of Ukraine and Eastern Europe, the DroneUA group of companies is the largest importer and distributor of leading drone manufacturers in the world and represents technological solutions from the brands XAG, EcoFlow, Pix4D, Parrot, Chasing, DroneDeploy, AgroCares and others.
The group of companies has its own engineering, production and service divisions, as well as an open data processing center. Technological solutions presented by DroneUA are used on more than 4 million hectares of cultivated areas of Ukraine. According to the results of the 2021 agricultural season alone, more than 1 million hectares were treated with drone sprayers from DroneUA.
DroneUA is among the top three most innovative businesses in the agricultural sector of Ukraine according to FORBES and among the twenty most innovative enterprises of Ukraine.
The group of companies continues to expand the list of technological brands that it presents on the Ukrainian market, and is active in agriculture, the oil and gas industry, as well as in the fields of energy, geodesy and topography.
DroneUA initiated an appeal to relevant ministries to open the sky for agricultural drones
