From fields to floods: Punjab farmer turns crop drone into lifeline for stranded families

Jagjeevan Singh Chahal stood on the Batala–Dera Baba Nanak road bridge, controller in hand, as his drone hovered over flood-ravaged villages in Gurdaspur. What is normally a tool for spraying sugarcane, mustard, and maize across his 21-acre farm has now become a lifeline for families trapped by rising waters.

Chahal, a trained DGCA-certified drone pilot from Delhi, repurposed his medium-category agricultural drone to ferry dry rations directly onto rooftops of stranded homes. The results, he says, are “highly accurate, with zero wastage,” a stark contrast to conventional airdrops from higher altitudes that often scatter supplies.

“The drone allows us to reach households far from village clusters, where access to relief is nearly impossible,” Chahal explained. His crop-spraying drone’s precision, designed for dense and tall crop canopies, now ensures lifesaving supplies land exactly where needed.

While the drone relies on mobile network connectivity and functions within a 1.5 km range, Chahal noted that professional rescue drones, though costlier at roughly ₹15 lakh, can operate without network coverage and carry specialized payloads over longer distances. His agricultural drone, valued at ₹8–10 lakh, is already proving the potential of low-cost innovation during emergencies.

Local authorities, including the Deputy Commissioner’s office and SDM, quickly coordinated with Chahal, leveraging the drone to deliver essential supplies. Encouraged by the success, he has proposed a district-level initiative to procure dedicated professional drones for flood response, aiming to make emergency aid faster, safer, and more precise in future crises.

Chahal’s experiment stands as a testament to ingenuity in the face of disaster—a farmer turning the tools of cultivation into instruments of survival.