Drone flying over fields and gardens
Coming to the 7-hectare mango garden of Mr. Nguyen Son Trung's family in Va Ly village (Son Tan commune, Cam Lam district, Khanh Hoa province), the four-season mango trees are lush and green, the mangoes are carefully packaged, and each fruit is beautiful thanks to careful care.
To take care of the mangoes, last December, Mr. Trung invested 370 million VND to buy a huge drone that can "carry" 40 liters of water per takeoff.
“This drone with a 40-liter capacity can spray 1 hectare of mango every 30 minutes. If you count the time for the machine to rest, charge the battery, add water, and mix chemicals, my family’s 7 hectares of mango can be sprayed in just 1 day; if you hire someone to spray, it will take at least 7 days.
Not to mention, drones spray evenly and more effectively than doing it by hand. The machine can spray all kinds of pesticides, pests, nutrients, foliar fertilizers, etc. Using the machine is not too complicated. When buying the machine, the company's technical staff will come to your place, guide you by hand, and you will grasp the basics in a few days. For many stages, farmers can set up the drone to work automatically," Mr. Trung excitedly said.
At the immense, lush mango garden in Xuan Lap village (Cam Tan commune, Cam Lam district), we followed the whirring sound of the generator, where Mr. Tran Hoai Nhan was taking care of his family's mango trees.
The drone was pre-programmed to take off and spray pesticides to prevent thrips damage, then return after completing a spraying session. On the screen of the drone controller was a panoramic image of his 4-hectare garden in map form, divided into many small squares.
“I just need to light a cigarette, mark the box that needs to be sprayed, and the drone will automatically spray evenly over the entire box,” said Mr. Nhan, adding that because the electricity grid here is not guaranteed, the power source to charge the drone's battery is used from a generator.
The family bought this drone not long ago for 300 million VND. Thanks to it, spraying pesticides and foliar fertilizers is done quickly and effectively.

The drone took off and flew to take care of the fields and gardens in Cam Lam district, Khanh Hoa province.
In the vast sugarcane fields of the core sugarcane area of Ninh Xuan, Ninh Thuong, Ninh Tay... communes of Ninh Hoa town, drones have also been flying everywhere. According to estimates, out of more than 4,000 hectares of sugarcane in the raw material area of AgriS Ninh Hoa Import-Export Joint Stock Company, up to now, farmers have applied drones to take care of about 90% of the sugarcane area.
According to the representative of AgriS Ninh Hoa, the total cost for each spraying of foliar fertilizer and pesticides is 1.1 million VND/ha. AgriS Ninh Hoa supports sugarcane growers with 600,000 VND, including the cost of renting a drone and part of the cost of foliar fertilizer.
Big move
In order to bring high efficiency in agricultural production, many other farmers have also researched, learned and applied drones in agriculture.
Mr. Nguyen Huu Nhat's family (Cam Thanh Bac commune, Cam Lam district) has 1 hectare of rice and 3 sao of mango. Seeing his parents taking care of the crops all year round with great difficulty, especially direct contact with fertilizers and chemicals that are not good for their health, he borrowed and saved 200 million VND to buy a drone to serve the family's needs, freeing up some of his parents' labor.
He also uses drones to provide services to local people. Every year, hundreds of hectares of rice, corn, melons, sugarcane, mangoes, etc. use his drone services. The cost of renting a drone is calculated based on the number of sprayers, each 20-liter tank, and spraying 1 tank costs 120,000 VND for the spraying fee.
With a mango garden of 800 trees in Cay Xoai village, Suoi Tan commune, Cam Lam district, Mr. Trinh Vinh has to regularly take care of the mangoes, especially spraying pesticides to prevent pests.
He said that when mangoes sprout, flower, and bear fruit, harmful organisms appear and need to be prevented. Meanwhile, spraying by hand, especially on mango trees 3-4m high, and some trees over 10m high, is very difficult and very toxic. Therefore, when hearing that in Cam Tan and Son Tan communes, there were farmers who bought drones to take care of mangoes, Mr. Vinh and many other farmers in the area have come many times to learn and study.
Mr. Le Van Hung - Director of Dien Loc Agricultural Cooperative, Dien Khanh District, said that the cooperative has 287 hectares of rice, producing more than 3,000 tons of certified rice seeds each year. The cooperative is planning to apply drones to some stages of rice production in 2025 to serve its members.
According to Mr. Le Quang Ba - Manager of the drone team from Khanh Hoa to Quang Tri provinces of Loc Troi Group, in 2022 and 2023, Loc Troi will pilot the application of drones in rice care.
Specifically, sowing, fertilizing and using pesticides by drone in Ninh Quang commune (Ninh Hoa town) and Van Phu commune (Van Ninh district, Khanh Hoa province).
The results show that the cost for each hectare of rice using drones is about 26 million VND, similar to normal, but the rice area using drones has higher productivity, thereby the economic efficiency is nearly 10 million VND higher than normal.
Mr. Truong Tan Hung - Vice Chairman of Khanh Hoa Farmers' Association said that recently, farmers in the province have started using drones to take care of crops, especially in spraying foliar fertilizers and pesticides.
Drones help solve the shortage of agricultural labor and protect farmers' health. The application of drones to crop care in Khanh Hoa still has a lot of room for development, but drones need to be applied in large fields, dozens of hectares wide, to maximize efficiency.
Therefore, along with accompanying, encouraging and supporting farmers in increasing the rate of mechanization and applying science and technology to agricultural production, the Provincial Farmers' Association also focuses on building collective economic models, branches - associations, cooperatives to gather farmers and increase production scale.
Source: https://danviet.vn/xuat-hien-may-bay-khong-nguoi-lai-luon-veo-veo-tren-vuon-xoai-tu-quy-o-khanh-hoa-nguoi-ta-ra-xem-20240919201610646.htm