Page 14 - LandscapeSA_112

FEATURE

DRONE SPRAYING PROVIDES

PRECISION APPLICATION

Spray drone
applying
ripener in a
sugar cane
field

tim Wise is the founder of PACsys, a company established in 2016 by a group

of sugar cane farmers on kZn’s north coast. its purpose was to improve the
quality of aerial pesticide application on their farms, where sugar cane is grown
on steep and challenging terrains and thus in need of precision applications.

nitially, PACSys was established as more
of a research and development entity,
Ilooking at all emerging agricultural
technologies that would ultimately unlock
farming efficiencies. On a trip to China to
visit DJI, the world’s largest manufacturer
of consumer drones, Wise had the
opportunity to see what that country was
developing on the crop spraying front, and
realised that this could potentially be the
solution PACSys was looking for from the
point of view of precision spraying.

The company subsequently negotiated a
dealership from DJI and began importing
their crop spraying drones. Aerial spraying
in South Africa is a highly regulated
endeavour, with companies, aircraft and
pilots all requiring various operational
licenses from entities such as the South
African Civil Aviation Authority (SACAA)
and the Department of Agriculture,
Land Reform and Rural Development
(DALRRD). In 2017, PACSys began driving
the regulatory licensing process but due
to there being no precedent at the time,
it was to be a process that would take
the better part of two years to complete.
Finally, in late 2019, South Africa’s first
legal commercial drone crop spraying
flight was approved. Trip to China in 2016 to meet with DJI, the world’s largest manufacturer of consumer drones

12 Landscape SA • Issue 112 2022