Yangju City Demonstrates Remote-Controlled Unmanned Boat for Herbicide Application

Yangju City in Gyeonggi Province held a demonstration on the 14th in Deokdori, Gwangjeok-myeon, showcasing the application of herbicides using an unmanned weeding boat.

Yangju City held a demonstration of herbicide spraying using an unmanned weeding boat on the 14th in Deokdo-ri, Gwangjeok-myeon. Provided by Yangju City

At the demonstration, 45 members of the Yangju City Rural Leaders' Association attended, observed the operation and performance of the unmanned weeding boat, and participated in the event.

The demonstration took place in a 13,223-square-meter (about 4,000 pyeong) rice paddy at the Gwangjeok-myeon Rural Leaders’ Association’s joint learning field, where herbicides were applied using unmanned boats.

The Yangju City Rural Leaders’ Association (headed by Lee Sangyun) was selected for support from the Gyeonggi-do Agricultural and Rural Development Fund in order to address the shortage of rural labor caused by the aging farming population, and to expand the adoption of the latest labor-saving and automation technologies. As a result, this year, the city will purchase 14 unmanned weeding boats using a project budget of 50 million won. Two boats will be distributed to each of the rural leaders' associations in the city's towns and villages.

Normally, manually applying herbicides in a rice paddy takes about one hour per hectare, but with a remotely operated unmanned boat, one hectare can be covered in just five minutes. Based on the results of this demonstration, the city plans to analyze farmers’ feedback and cost-saving effects to review further utilization of the project.

Songjoo Lee, Director of the Agricultural Technology Center, said, "We expect this project will help reduce the time and labor required for weeding," adding, "We will continue to actively promote labor-saving rice cultivation and scientific farming practices in the future."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.