Syngenta India gets govt nod to spray fungicide using drones

Agriculture company Syngenta India on Monday said it has got government approval for spraying fungicide using drones to protect paddy crops. Central Insecticide Board, regulatory authority under the agriculture ministry, has given approval to the company to spray its fungicide Amistar Top on paddy using drones, Syngenta India said in a statement.

Amistar Top protects the crop against fungal infections like blast and sheath blight, the company said.

Another product Syngenta Ampligo, which is a mixture of two modes of active ingredients, has also been approved by the 438th Registration Committee, it added.


Syngenta is among the first companies to get approval for spraying agrochemicals after submission of safety and bio efficacy data, it said, adding that trials of these products were replicated in the institutes accredited by the government before getting approval.

"Drone technology is the need of the hour for Indian agriculture. The government has taken a timely decision to approve the use of drones for spraying purposes. Use of drones will address the key issues of labour and water shortage. Syngenta is proud to be a trendsetter," Syngenta India country head and MD Susheel Kumar said.

The company said that it is also engaging with agriculture universities and drone service providers to educate the stakeholders for proper use.

"We are working on drone research with various leading agricultural universities. We are also evaluating the use of our solutions through drones in different crops like cotton, soybean, groundnut, hot pepper, red gram, corn, rice in Maharashtra. We've developed in-house capability for evaluation of our products through drones at our all four Syngenta R&D hubs located across India," said Sunil Kurchania, Syngenta India head, crop protection development (R&D) India.