Original Promising DJI Agriculture 

With the widespread use of plant protection drones around the world, the “trend” profession of plant protection pilots has also entered the field of vision of the Ukrainian public. As of this year, the number of plant protection drones in the Ukrainian market has increased by 8 times compared with last year . “Plant protection pilots” have also begun to become a new career choice. Pavlo Laskovets from Ukraine transformed from an IT engineer to a DJI plant protection drone pilot. His entrepreneurial road.

Pavlo’s first “connection” with DJI Agriculture

Pavlo is an engineer who previously worked in sales and consulting in the IT industry. Later, by chance, he saw an advertisement about pilot training on the Internet. “Suddenly stimulated my great interest. At present, agricultural technology is in a period of rapid development. My intuition tells me that the application and innovation of drones in the agricultural field will fundamentally change the future of the industry in the future. I am serious. After thinking about it for 2 days, I dialed this call. After a period of learning and precipitation, I successfully transformed into a plant protection drone pilot.” Pavlo recalled.

Pavlo Laskovets’ first job

As an IT engineer, Pavlo talked about the first time he went to the field to spray medicine for a client. “The first task I received was to spray desiccant on sunflowers and corn. At that time, I was both excited and nervous. I spent a lot of time consulting senior colleagues on many details, and prepared as much as possible for unexpected situations, and finally successfully completed my first job. In the past, most of my customers used fixed-wing agricultural aircraft, but This will cause a certain amount of damage to crops, with a loss of 3% to 7% of the harvest. If calculated in a thousand hectares, the economic income loss caused by this cannot be underestimated.”

Don’t be afraid of “clearly settle accounts”, cost saving is visible

At the beginning, Pavlo’s customers had concerns about plant protection drones to fight drugs, but his strategy was to “clearly settle accounts” with customers. Pavlo, who is an engineer, is naturally sensitive to numbers, and his past experience in sales and consulting has just become a bonus for his new career.

Pavlo’s operational equipment: 1 drone, 3 generator, 6 batteries and 3 chargers

“In the long run, if you use a plant protection drone, the water required per hectare (1 hectare = 2.47 acres) . If you use traditional sprayers to operate, 100 hectares will require 15-20 tons of water. Use DJI T20 Drone spraying requires only 6 tons of water for 100 hectares. If the farmland area is 10,000 hectares, 2,000 cubic meters of water can be saved, which is equivalent to the water consumption of the entire Olympic standard swimming pool. This saving is considerable, and even saves More and saves resources.” Pavlo said confidently.

Zero industry experience, new career prospects

Pavlo didn’t have any industry-related experience in agriculture in the past. He gave up a high-paying job in the IT industry and decided to start a business. In addition to being optimistic about the plant protection drone track, he also believed that he was doing a “valuable job”. “‘S career. “In terms of physical strength, only two people are required for the job, a pilot and a deputy. The job price per hectare is 350 hryvnia or higher. Therefore, only 20 days are required that I will be able to recover the cost of purchasing the machine and start to make a profit. The investment is small and the return on the cost is fast. The most important thing is that I think the business I have done is very valuable. We are trying to use technology to innovate the traditional way of working.”

Ukrainian farmers usually have a farm area of ​​50-80 hectares, small customers do not have the ability to purchase fixed-wing agricultural aircraft, medium-sized customers have difficulty in hiring pilots, and large agribusinesses lack manpower during peak seasons. Pavlo aimed at the market gap of plant protection drones and quickly seized the market.

 “The advantage of plant protection drones is that in places where tractors are impassable, drones can pass unimpeded. In addition, large aircraft can operate at a price of up to 500 hryvnia per hectare, which does not include construction. For some small customers, the cost of spraying pesticides and pilots is prohibitive.”

“Another key point is that in the past few years, one-fifth of the pilots around me have switched from aviation spray aircraft. This is the market demand and the industry’s potential.” Pavlo added.

Jump out of your comfort zone and achieve your new self

Has Pavlo regretted giving up a high-paying job in the past and choosing to start from scratch? Pavlo smiled and replied: “I never regret it. Only after leaving my comfort zone can I have a chance to enter the wider world. I am now not only a pilot, but also the leader of the company.

In the process of starting a business, I kept upgrading and fighting monsters and exploring new areas. In the past, there were many pain points in agriculture. Plant protection drones have brought solutions to this industry. We cannot stand still, or we may miss the industry market. I hope that more young people can join the plant protection drone industry and make their own way.. “

Jenny