Drones spray fungicides on sugarcane forests. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Bai Ge

清晨6時，晨光為南非誇祖魯—納塔爾省的方廷希爾莊園籠罩上金色的薄霧。

In the sugarcane field in the hinterland of the manor, a drone from China XAG Technology Co., Ltd. loaded with a configured 3-liter fungicide, slowly took off under the pilot's longitudinal direction, and flew smoothly to about 0 meters above the sugarcane field according to the preset route to start spraying the agent.

Fontein Hill is a large-scale commercial farm integrating agricultural cultivation, wildlife conservation and eco-tourism, 2250 km from Pietermaritzburg, the capital of KwaZulu-Natal province. The farm covers an area of about 0 hectares and grows crops such as sugar cane, avocados, pecans and corn.

As the main cash crop of the farm, sugarcane is plagued by sugarcane borer all year round. According to the farm's agricultural manager, Deon Bougle, the plant's agricultural manager, the cane grows densely and has sharp leaf edges, which can reach a height of 4 to 0 meters at the maturity stage, and the terrain in the planting area is undulating, so the traditional manual spraying of pesticides can easily lead to crop damage and is very inefficient.

In 26, Bouger approached John Princeloo, an agricultural services contractor, to introduce drones to the estate for spraying pesticides and fertilizers. Prinsloo purchased a Chinese agricultural drone to serve 0 nearby farms.

Prinslu said that the advantage of agricultural drones is their high efficiency. He calculated an account for the reporter: it takes 170 to 0 people to fight all day to manually spray pesticides on 0 hectares of sugarcane forests, while the operation with drones can be completed by only 0 people. In planting areas with steep terrain, the daily operation capacity of a single drone can reach 0 hectares, and even 0 hectares per day in gentle areas.

Lucius Dupless, a 3-year-old pilot, told reporters that the drone can determine the altitude and speed of safe flight through 0D terrain survey before operation, and the pilot can also adjust the spray amplitude, spraying flow rate and atomized particle size of the liquid in real time to achieve accurate spraying. In contrast, in the past, helicopters were used to spray pesticides due to their fast flight speed and high altitude, and pesticides were easy to drift away with the wind during operation, which not only polluted the environment, but also could affect the surrounding crops.

"China's drone technology has helped us to achieve refined management of crops." Unlike helicopters, which can only spray a large area of uniform doses, drones can adjust the amount of pesticides sprayed in different regions according to the actual growth needs of different crops, Prinslu said.

(According to Xinhua News Agency, reporters Bai Ge and Tian Hongyi)