Yamaha pesticide spraying service using FAZER R
Yamaha Motor has announced that Siam Yamaha Motor Robotics, a joint-venture company in which subsidiary Thai Yamaha Motor is a part owner, will launch a pesticide spraying service in Thailand using Yamaha Motor’s FAZER R industrial unmanned helicopter, on August 2020.
SYMR will deploy the FAZER R to deliver spraying solutions that help to meet the increasing need for enhanced pest control in Thailand. The solutions will also contribute to more efficient cultivation in line with the Thai government’s policy to increase sugarcane and corn production through enhanced weed and pest control and application of growth promoters and sugar enhancers.
In 2015, Thailand introduced its ‘Thailand 4.0’ guidelines aimed at achieving stable growth as a developed economy, including through digitalisation and improved productivity in growing core industries such as agriculture and automobiles. In particular, agriculture employs about 40% of the national labour force and accounts for the world's fourth largest sugarcane production volume, so the demands are strong for high-efficiency spraying with unmanned helicopters for more effective weed and pest control and improved sugar content in sugarcane.
Since 2015, Yamaha Motor has been conducting research and tests to develop advanced aerial spraying solutions that are more efficient and achieve better outcomes than those of current methods. The initiatives have been carried out in collaboration with the Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives of Thailand, including the Office of the Cane and Sugar Board, as well as sugar manufacturing companies and pesticide manufacturers. SYMR is the first company to be licensed by the Ministry of Transport for aerial spraying with an unmanned aircraft in Thailand.
Yamaha Motor’s development of unmanned helicopters, drones and robotics technologies is creating new value by improving productivity, labour savings and industrial automation as well as by addressing needs in modern society, including increased sustainability.