Drone spraying for oil palm

Palm estates are big, the roads turn to mud in the wet season and labour is getting harder to find. That is where a drone earns its keep.

Jobs that suit oil palm

• Herbicide on palm circles and inter rows, flown row by row.
• Nettle caterpillar and bagworm control when outbreaks spread through the canopy.
• Granular fertiliser in blocks that trucks or wheelbarrows struggle to reach.
• Mapping stressed palms, for example suspected Ganoderma, to speed up census work.

What to have ready

Block boundaries (a KML file or GPS points if you have them), palm age and the products you normally use. For very tall old palms we first check whether spraying from above is effective or whether a mix with ground methods works better.

Smallholders and plasma growers

Neighbouring smallholdings can be grouped into a single booking through the farmer group, so everyone shares the travel cost.