Oil palm (Elaeis guneensis Jacq.) is one of several crops that produce oil for commercial purposes.
Based on data from (USDA in 2017), in 2016 Indonesia became the first producer in the world with production of 34 million tons and exports of 25 million tons.
The growth of the oil palm industry is inseparable from various kinds of obstacles and one of them is disease.
One of the diseases that attack oil palm is stem rot disease (BPB) caused by Ganoderma sp. which is a soil-borne pathogenic fungus.
This disease has caused the death of oil palm in plantations, and caused a decline of 90% of total palm oil production in Southeast Asia.
Several steps were taken to overcome these problems by using chemicals to destroy the fungus in the root area.
Unfortunately, the conventional application of fungicides is considered less effective and efficient in terms of time, energy and the environment.
“Spraying fungicides manually will take a lot of time and effort. Farmers are also more at risk of being exposed to the harmful effects of chemical liquids if they are inhaled or directly exposed to the skin,” said one of the team representatives, Muhamd Fauzi Ramadhan.
The worst impact caused by the use of chemicals is a residue that is difficult to decompose so that it will disrupt the balance of the ecosystem.
In addition to these solutions, the principle that has been offered is the certainly factor method. This method is less effective in overcoming the problems mentioned above because the analysis carried out must use complex calculations so that most people who have low human resources will find it difficult.
Based on the description, Students of the Faculty of Agriculture Universitas Brawijaya (FP UB), Muhammad Fauzi Romadhon, Alifia Al-Zahra, Shafiyyah Ramadhani Arafa, Sendy Prasetyo, and Fa’iz Mubarok Fadhlullah developed a tool for handling Ganoderma sp. in oil palm plantations in Indonesia.
The tool is called Plant Protection Drone.
This drone is equipped with an IoT-based system and a spray system. The drone pest has dimensions of 55x55x55 cm. The drone has 4 rotors that can lift a maximum load of 4.8 kg with a range of approximately 3000 meters and a maximum flying height of 120 meters.
This tool can also fly at a maximum speed of two, for manual mode with a maximum speed of 30 m/s while for GPS mode with a maximum speed of 20 m/s.
Meanwhile, the spraying system has a pesticide tank capacity of 1.35 liters, a maximum spray speed of 2.5 liters/minute, and a spraying range of 4 meters.
Then for its power supply, it uses a Lipo battery with a capacity of 6200 mAh which will provide a long flight time without a charge for 22 minutes and with a full charge for 12 minutes. 10 minutes with a charge.
Muhammad Fauzi explained the advantage of IOT system in the Plant Protection Drone is that it is equipped with an autopilot feature that is set using a laptop so that the drone can return to its starting position/flying point if it is out of range and can make an emergency landing if the battery runs out.
The drone is also equipped with an alarm feature that will notify the user of the battery condition. If the battery reaches a certain point, a notification will appear on the remote and a warning sound will appear via the drone.
The drone is equipped with telemetry which allows the drone to set GPS via the tablet to determine the drone’s flight path, and the drone is equipped with a spray control feature that allows the user to direct the spray direction and adjust the spray strength.
“It is hoped that this innovation will come to help plantation farmers and the oil palm industry to increase oil palm productivity so that the production can be sustainable,” he said.
Under the guidance of Agribusiness lecturer, Mochammad Roviq, SP.MP. this drone innovation has received funding assistance from the Ministry of Education and Culture in the Student Creativity Program in the Field of Copyright (PKM-KC) and will take part in the PIMNAS XXXIV selection in the upcoming month. (FZI/Humas UB/ Trans. Iir).
