Drone Didi Scheme Falls Short of Targets in Sirsa

By: WE Staff | Monday, 30 March 2026

• A government initiative on women-operated drone sprays in Sirsa district did not achieve its goals
• The initiative, named “Drone Didi,” sought to popularize drone sprays for nano-urea and pesticide application
• The initiative had eleven women sprayers targeting 1,000 acres each

The initiative of promoting women in drone spraying in farms across Sirsa district has failed to achieve its objectives.

The ‘Drone Didi’ initiative aims to provide an opportunity for women to get familiar with agricultural technology, especially in spraying nano urea and pesticides. Each of the 11 women operating drones in Sirsa district was expected to spray 1,000 acres of land. However, only 4,551 acres were sprayed out of 10,003 registered.

Of these 11 women, only two were close to achieving their objectives, while some of them failed to spray any acreage. This is because drone technology is yet to gain acceptance among farmers, especially in rural areas.

Most farmers preferred conventional spraying, which is considered reliable. As such, farmers did not take up drone spraying, resulting in low utilization of this service.

The initiative used to be much lower until a month ago. Following this, the department of agriculture directed these women to improve their performance.

Thereafter, some of them resumed spraying with departmental support. However, the initiative was negatively impacted by seasonal factors, such as wheat crops needing less urea and mustard crops needing less spraying.

Gurpreet Singh, a local farmer stated that he thought the Programme needed more demonstrations and training events so that farmers could feel confident that the use of drones as a means of spraying would work.

According to Dr. Sukhdev Singh Kamboj, Deputy Director of the Agriculture Department at Sirsa, the spraying portal had been available for use from the beginning of February through February 20.

Dr. Sukhdev also indicated that the weather conditions were good and that there were very few insects, therefore there was no need for large-scale spraying, in addition, battery problems and transportation issues were hindering the delivery of the program's services to farmers.

Furthermore, he indicated that the cost-sharing aspect of the program is also problematic, as while the Government subsidized farmers ₹250 per acre, the farmers would be required to pay ₹150 per acre, an amount not all farmers would be able to afford.

More communication between self-help groups and farmers is also being recommended in order to provide a more successful spraying program.