ABSTRACT
Drone technology has to pass the test for economic feasibility. The introduction of the 'agricultural drones' could affect the economic aspects of a small farmer, a large farmer, an agricultural company with vast acreage, a district/county or even a nation. In Japan, regulatory aspects for drone usage in agricultural sector, first received attention in 2002. Farmers started using copter drones to spray pesticides on to their rice crops, around that period. The return on investments for the drone could be achieved in a crop season or even less. Farm workers may face retrenchment and job loss, if drones are adopted. Farmers requiring normalized difference vegetative index data sometimes hire drone services. The cost of drones available in the market shows a very wide range from 500 US$ for a simple one to 100,000–120,000 US$ for complex models. The costs are based on size, flight endurance, durability, operations possible, software, image quality, flight pattern and tasks.
