ECONOMIC EFFICIENCY OF DRONE USE IN AGRICULTURE

Abstract

The article analyzes the market of drones for agricultural activities as part of the concept of precision farming; the classification of agricultural drones by structure, use and cameras installed on them is given; the analysis of the world market of drones for today is carried out, and efficiency of introduction of drones in agriculture (on an example of plant growing) is calculated. To analyze the global market for agricultural drones, data were taken from analytical reports and reviews of companies such as: PricewaterhouseCoopers, Markets and Markets, Mordor Intelligence, Fortune Business Insider. The authors used the following research methods: observation method, index analysis, economic-mathematical modeling and deductive method for drawing conclusions. The study was conducted in several stages. First, the classification of drones by structure, use and type of video cameras was studied. At the second stage, on the basis of analytical reports of reputable international companies analyzed the current state of the agricultural drone market and its capacity; identified the prerequisites for the development of the agricultural drone market and the factors that have the greatest impact on the industry; the forecast on the future possible development of the agricultural drone market is analyzed, and the main market players are identified, indicating the country of origin of the companies. At the third stage, the analysis of the introduction of drone technology in crop production for aerial photography and fertilizer application was carried out. The article develops two possible scenarios of farmer's behavior in relation to agriculture: 1) monitor the condition of fields and crop growth with their own vehicle and apply fertilizers using specialized agricultural machinery; 2) perform similar work using drones. The average tariff for fertilizer application in Ukraine and the average salary of a drone operator were used for the calculation. Drones have been shown to be more cost-effective if they increase crop yields by more than 3.85% over five years of using the technology.