Aerial drones used for pesticide spraying in Kaiyang county

A drone is tested for pesticide spraying in Kaiyang county. [Photo/Kaiyang Release]

Agricultural aerial drones are being used in Kaiyang county – located in Southwest China's Guizhou province – to spray pesticides over rice paddies, which reportedly significantly improves spraying efficiency and reduces the risk of pesticide poisoning.

Around 300 mu (20 hectares) of rice paddies in Kaiyang county's Xijiaping and Tianba are benefiting from the high-tech pesticide spraying methods.

As the recent high temperature weather continues, the probability of rice diseases and insect pests is higher.

Jiang Weigao, an agricultural drone operator, maneuvers a machine flying above a rice paddy in Kaiyang county. [Photo/Kaiyang Release]

"In the past, the manual spraying of pesticides in such weather conditions made people exhausted." according to He Yunfeng, a resident of Liangshuijing village.

"With the help of the drones, I don't need to suffer from sun burn and the pesticide spraying efficiency is much higher," He added.

Jiang Weigao, a drone operator, said they are dozens of times more efficient in spraying pesticides than humans. 

They can spray 300-500 mu in one day. Their long-distance control also avoids the risk of pesticide poisoning in close-range operations.