Drone Crop Spraying: Frequently Asked Questions

A battery-powered agricultural drone carries a 10–16 litre tank and sprays pesticide, fungicide or nutrients through atomising nozzles while flying 2–3 metres above the crop. Rotor downwash pushes droplets into the canopy, so one acre needs only about 8–10 litres of spray fluid instead of 120–200 litres with a knapsack pump — and finishes in roughly 5–10 minutes.

TODO(verify): Most CropWings bookings fall between ₹400 and ₹600 per acre. Flat paddy fields in the Krishna–Godavari delta sit at the lower end (₹400–₹500), while dense chilli in the Guntur–Prakasam belt or tall sugarcane can reach ₹500–₹650 because of repeat passes and higher spray volume. The exact quote for your plot appears in the app before you confirm.

Download CropWings, register with your mobile number and OTP, add your land (drop a pin or walk the boundary), choose the crop and the chemical you plan to spray, pick a slot and confirm. A certified pilot near you accepts the job, and you can track arrival and spray progress live. Booking one to two days ahead secures peak kharif slots.

CropWings runs deep, year-round operations in Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Maharashtra — from the Godavari delta paddy belt to Vidarbha's cotton–soybean tracts. Service reaches five more states via the CropWings pilot network, subject to pilot availability in your district. Open the app and add your village; it will show whether a certified pilot currently serves your area.

Yes, when done to protocol. CropWings pilots follow the Ministry of Agriculture's crop-specific SOPs for drone pesticide application — doses stay within CIB&RC-approved ranges, spraying stops near people and livestock, and buffer distances are kept from houses, water bodies and neighbouring crops. Uniform droplets also cut operator exposure compared with carrying a knapsack pump through a treated field.

Yes. Under India's Drone Rules 2021, agricultural spraying drones (typically the 2–25 kg Small category) must be registered on the DGCA's Digital Sky platform with a Unique Identification Number, and the operator must hold a Remote Pilot Certificate earned at a DGCA-authorised Remote Pilot Training Organisation. Every pilot on CropWings is verified for both before receiving jobs.

Complete Remote Pilot Certificate training at any DGCA-authorised RPTO (small-category agri courses run about a week), register your drone on Digital Sky, then apply through the pilot option in the CropWings app with your RPC and drone UIN. Once documents are verified, you start receiving spray jobs in your district, with earnings credited to your CropWings wallet as jobs are completed.

Agri-input companies sponsor spraying discounts on CropWings. When you buy a participating product — say a fungicide for your chilli crop — you receive a coupon code (TODO(verify): distributed by the dealer or inside the product pack). Apply it at checkout in the app and the sponsored amount is deducted from your per-acre rate before payment. Coupons carry validity dates and usage limits, shown on the coupon itself.

The pilot checks conditions on site. Spraying is paused or rescheduled when sustained wind crosses roughly 10–12 km/h, during rain, or when rain is expected within a few hours of application — drift and wash-off waste both chemical and money. TODO(verify): Rescheduling for weather costs nothing; the pilot coordinates a new slot with you, usually the next calm morning window.

TODO(verify): CropWings accepts bookings from one acre. For very small plots, the app may club your booking with neighbouring farms on the same day so the pilot's travel is shared — this keeps the per-acre rate in the normal ₹400–₹600 band instead of loading travel cost onto a single small field. Larger contiguous blocks, common in Vidarbha cotton, often get faster slot confirmation.

Pay inside the app by UPI, debit or credit card, or net banking, or hand cash to the pilot after the spray is completed and logged. Any coupon you applied is deducted first, and the app shows a full breakup — per-acre rate, acreage, discount and final payable — before you confirm. A receipt is stored against your booking history.

CropWings' sister platform, dronestoreindia.com, sells agricultural drones, batteries, chargers, nozzles and spare parts with pan-India shipping. It is built for pilots, FPOs and entrepreneurs who want to own equipment rather than book a service. If you buy a drone there and hold a DGCA Remote Pilot Certificate, you can also apply to fly on the CropWings network.