Modern farming! Agri Drones, Coated Seeds: Agriculture Game Changers

Last Friday, in the vast undulating fertile fields at the foot of Mt. Matutum Polomolok, South Cotabato, two innovations in Philippine Agriculture were implemented in the planting of Sorghum, an important food and feed grains which could contribute to the country’s Food Sufficiency Program.
These innovations are being adopted by the Southseas Agri-Aqua Ventures Corp., a fledgling agricultural company which I, former Senator Panfilo Lacson, Rocky French and four other friends, formed recently.
Sorghum Planting is our foundation project which will be connected to our feed processing and later Fish Cage Farming and Aquaculture, along with livestock production.
The Sorghum Seeds, hybrids produced by Scott Seed Company of Hereford, Texas, were soaked overnight to be coated with nutrients and protective solutions provided by fertilizer giant Yara International ASA.
The technology is called Seed Nutrients Coating where, before sowing, the seeds are soaked in YaraVita Teprosyn for insect protection and also to provide immediate nutrients as soon as the seeds germinate and sprout.
This effectively removes the traditional basal fertilizer application which could cost the farmer at least P5,000 per hectare as the formula only costs less than P200 per bottle.
The second innovation is the use of the DJI Agras T30 GPS-Guided Drones in the sowing of the Sorghum seeds.
While admittedly, there are still kinks in the spreading of the seeds in the periphery of the planting areas, the drones effectively reduced the cost of planting by almost 1/4 from P8,000 per hectare for manual planting to only P2,000.
The agri drones will also be used in spreading the second Yara fertilizer application on the 15th day and in spraying insecticides or herbicides and foliar fertilizer.
These innovations could not be perfected at the very start but SAAV Corp. which is chaired by Senator Lacson and where I am the Chief Operations Officer is willing to take this bold step in venturing into a new realm in Agriculture.
#farmingisappliedscience!
#farmingiscontinuouslearning!
#farmisthebestclassroom!