Salam Kisan partners with Maharashtra govt to enhance drone manufacturing

Dhanashri Mandhani, the CEO of the agri-tech platform Salam Kisan, stated that her startup has entered into a memorandum of understanding with the Maharashtra government to enhance its drone manufacturing capacity. This MOU with the Maharashtra government is in partnership and assistance with Microsoft, which is Salam Kisan's technology collaborator.

"We are going to be expanding our drone manufacturing facility, going from 6,000 drones to 40,000 drones (per annum)," she told ANI from Davos. "At Salam Kisan we are democratizing data-driven agriculture for farmers and we are currently working with 300,000 farmers," she said.

She stated that her goal is to empower more women and marginalized communities to gain an additional income source through drones as a business and drones as a service, while also enhancing farmers' productivity and profitability. Established in 2022, Salam Kisan's operation is located in Jalna, Marathwada, Maharashtra. The building has an area of 20,000 square feet. The current total capacity is 6,000 drones each year.

India is heavily advocating for the use of drones, especially emphasizing support for women. Namo Drone Didi is a scheme in the central sector designed to empower Self-Help Groups (SHGs) led by women by providing them with drone technology for agricultural services.

The project intends to supply drones to 15,000 chosen Women SHGs from 2024-25 to 2025-2026 to offer rental services to farmers for agricultural use (specifically applying liquid fertilizers and pesticides).