Agriculture is the backbone of the national economy and ups and downs of the agriculture sector according has good and bad impact of the country’s economic growth by and large. 

It is good to note that in order to boost the agriculture sector , the Punjab government has taken a revolutionary step of allowing use of drone technology in the agriculture sector for enhancing agriculture production throughout the province. 

An Unmanned Air Vehicle (UAV)/Drone consists of a small unmanned aircraft and after the success of this technology it is ready to astound the agriculture sector. Drone/UAV technology can be usefully deployed in applications of pesticides on crops, monitoring of weeds, pests and nutritional deficiencies, geographical survey of crops, area and water resources research and development. A police personnel may also be attached with the operator of drone at the time of its flying activity for safety purposes. 

According to the reports in the newspapers quoting Provincial Agriculture Department spokesman, interested farmers can apply to the Deputy Director Agriculture (Extension) of their respective districts for issuance of No Objection Certificate (NOC) for the use of Unmanned aerial Vehicle ((UAVs) and the NOC for this purpose will be issued after proper analysis and vetting of the applications so received by the Agriculture Department officials concerned particularly specifying therein the area, time and duration of use of the drones. 

Quite obviously, this seems a revolutionary step which the Provincial Agriculture Department has taken. But in all fairness, the farmers should first be apprised about all aspects of the drone technology for its proper, effective, safe and secure use and avoidance of loss or backfiring as such, please. Thanks. 

EM ZED RIFAT,  

Lahore, December17.