The Ministry of Economic Development of Russia proposes to launch an experiment on the operation of agricultural unmanned aerial systems in a number of Russian regions, the corresponding draft government decree is published on the official portal of regulatory legal acts.
“The Government of the Russian Federation decides: to establish an experimental legal regime in the field of digital innovations for the operation of agricultural unmanned aerial systems,” the text of the draft says. The pilot legal regime is expected to last for three years.
The establishment of an experimental legal regime (EPR) is aimed at the development, testing and implementation of drones for spraying, screening loose and liquid plant protection products. EPR is proposed to be installed in the territories of Tatarstan, Krasnodar, Altai and Stavropol Territories, as well as Rostov, Belgorod, Samara, Novosibirsk, Nizhny Novgorod and Voronezh Regions, follows from the explanatory note to the project.
The draft resolution states that today the application of plant protection products is carried out using ground agricultural equipment, agricultural manned aircraft and hand-held knapsack sprayers. It is clarified that the expediency of establishing an EPR is due to the presence in Russian legislation of provisions that make it impossible or significantly hinder the introduction of this digital innovation.
According to the authors of the project, the use of ground equipment is impossible on waterlogged soils, in conditions of complex relief and field forms, in addition, the equipment itself damages crops or requires the organization of traffic routes, which reduces the utilization rate of land.
Agricultural drones are devoid of such shortcomings. They can be applied regardless of the degree of soil moisture without destroying crops. The flight height above the treated plants is close to that of the ground equipment, which ensures high accuracy of plant protection products application. Work is possible at any time of the day.
In addition, the use of digital solutions in the control of equipment for the application of plant protection products allows you to individually dose the applied substances depending on the actual state of the cultivated plantings. Agricultural drones have a high degree of control automation, which significantly reduces the requirements for personnel qualifications, small size and maneuverability allow you to work on complex terrain, fields with a complex shape and quickly respond to emerging needs for the use of plant protection products.
