The role of drones for supporting precision agricultural management

Abstract

Implementation of precision agriculture should be continuously accelerated to increase agricultural productivity and prevent degradation of soil, land, and water resources and also environmental pollution. For this reason, soil loss due to erosion must be well-known and identified carefully followed by efforts to reduce the amount of soil erosion in all areas that is greater than permissible erosion. To achieve these efforts, application of appropriate technology is needed. The application of drones is very helpful in the preparation and provision of precision agricultural management plans. In addition to being very helpful in estimating the amount of erosion, the use of drones is also very useful for setting recommendations for alternative soil and water conservation measures needed for each land unit. From the results of research conducted in Karyasari Village, Leuwiliang District, Bogor Regency, using drones to estimate erosion by USLE (Universal Soil Loss Equation) method is very helpful in determining the value of plant factors (C), soil management (P), slope (L) and slope length (S), and predicting actual soil erosion in each Land Management Unit (LMU). For the LMU whose actual soil erosion estimates are greater than tolerable soil erosion, the use of drones is very helpful in finding steps to compose recommendation of soil conservation measures for each Land Management Unit. The use of drones is very useful to support and assist precision agricultural management, including many aspects of planning, operational and monitoring and evaluation levels.