2023-04-12 00:08:41
Restrictions on commercial drone flights in more than 30 regions will hurt agriculture. Maxim Chizhov, CEO of Agrimax Aero, a manufacturer of agricultural drones, told Vedomosti that the total losses for the agricultural sector, as well as for manufacturers and operators of unmanned aerial systems (UAS) for agriculture in 2023, could amount to 2.4 billion rubles. According to Pavel Plakhotny, Deputy General Director of Industrial Drones, the amount of losses for agricultural drone manufacturers could be even higher – about 5.6 billion rubles, if forestry is also taken into account.
Now BAS are used in the cultivation of rice, sunflower, rapeseed, corn and other crops, Chizhov listed. In particular, drones are being used for sowing, pesticide treatments, applying biostimulants and desiccation (dehydration) before harvesting, he explained. For example, in the Krasnodar Territory, where restrictions were imposed on UAS flights, out of 90,000 hectares of rice, more than 30,000 hectares had to be processed with the help of drones, Chizhov cited the data. The restrictions will lead to problems for rice growers, lower revenues for UAS manufacturers and downtime for operating companies, the expert is sure. A similar situation is now with the feeding of winter crops, which were scheduled for April in the Central Black Earth region, he added.
The main reason for introducing a complete or partial ban on the use of drones is to ensure the security of the critical infrastructure of the regions, mainly bordering on the areas of military operations in the NVO zone, as well as protecting the population from various kinds of sabotage and attacks, recalled Dmitry Gorbunov, partner at the law firm Rustam Kurmaev and Partners. . Local authorities issued their own decrees, guided by the Decree of the President of the Russian Federation No. 757 of October 19, 2022, according to which various degrees of readiness were introduced in the Russian regions, he added.
At the end of March 2023, bans or restrictions on flights were introduced in 31 regions, Gorbunov cited data. According to him, in some regions where the border to the NWO zone is as close as possible, “complete and uncompromising” restrictions were introduced, but there are some regions where, for example, a basic level of preparedness and restrictions can be bypassed by performing a series of actions and obtaining appropriate permissions from authorities. In addition, in most regions that introduced restrictions, flights of drones under the jurisdiction of local governments and authorities, as well as special agencies, are allowed, the lawyer recalled.
“Given the situation with agricultural complexes, which found themselves in a difficult situation due to the inability to use drones to ensure the normal operation of their farms, I assume that the problem should be raised at the level of local authorities and solved manually at the level of each region, depending on the text of the resolution on restrictions on UAV flights,” Gorbunov said.
In regions with restrictions, for example, in the Tula region and Tatarstan, some companies refuse to perform aviation chemical work on drones, Plakhotny confirmed. Farmers in the Stavropol Territory, which also has a flight ban, asked Industrial Drones to work on their premises, but asked for a document confirming their readiness to be responsible in the event of “negative scenarios,” he said. Sanctions for the use of drones in the regions now range from fines to criminal liability, Plakhotny noted. He added that while the company is refusing contracts in regions with bans, the introduction of experimental legal regimes (EPR) for agricultural drones by the beginning of the 2023 agricultural season can correct the situation.
We are talking about EPR for processing crops with agrochemicals using heavy drones, which was proposed by the BAS Consortium created by Russian Post and SK Capital. It is planned that the tests will be held in the Krasnodar and Altai Territories, Rostov, Belgorod, Samara and Novosibirsk regions, as well as in Tatarstan, Vedomosti wrote in mid-February 2023.
Andrey Neduzhko, CEO of the Steppe agricultural holding, told Vedomosti that the company has been using agricultural drones since 2017. According to him, they are used to assess and control the condition of crops, update the field cadastre, as well as to treat fields with plant protection products and desiccation. Neduzhko explained that agricultural drones are often more efficient than traditional agricultural equipment, as they allow working in fields with wet soil or too high seedlings, which is impossible for wheeled vehicles. Restrictions on flights partially affected the territories of the agricultural holding, but flights can be carried out in them by prior agreement with the regional authorities, he said.
The speedy resolution of issues with the legislative regulation of the use of drones is becoming a key factor in the development of both the drone industry and agriculture, Plakhotny believes. According to him, the use of BAS can increase yields by an average of 14%, depending on the cultivated crop.
A complete ban on drones is not a guarantee of safety, since the tools to control gray flights and suppress the illegal use of airspace by drones are not enough today, said Nikita Danilov, CEO of Fly Dron. “All business representatives that carry out commercial activities in good faith in compliance with the air legislation of the Russian Federation have stopped using UAS,” he added. “Therefore, the only result that can be achieved by introducing total restrictions is a slowdown in the development of a strategically important industry for Russia.” In addition to the agricultural sector, companies in the oil and gas industry and construction will bear the greatest costs from bans, Danilov believes.
Instead of bans, it is worth more actively withdrawing drone users from the gray zone, Nikolai Ryashin, an expert on the Aeronet NTI market, believes. There are digital services that allow you to build flight tasks and issue flight plans online, he recalled. According to Ryashin, an effective solution to the problem was to oblige all drone operators to digitize their permits through such platforms.
Vedomosti sent inquiries to the Ministry of Agriculture, the Ministry of Transport and the Ministry of Defense.
Alexey Polukhin participated in the preparation of the article
#Damage #ban #flights #agricultural #drones #exceed #billion #rubles