By: Jordeene B. Lagare – Reporter

MANILA, Philippines – The Philippine Rice Research Institute (PhilRice) is using drone technology to spray herbicides and manage weeds in rice plantations.

According to PhilRice, researchers discovered that drones can effectively control weeds in wet direct-seeded rice, which could transform weed management into a modern farming practice.

“This is especially useful for large rice fields and areas with difficult terrain, where manual spraying slows down operations,” PhilRice said in a statement on Monday.

PhilRice at Central Luzon State University and the Department of Agriculture’s Research Outreach Station for Lowland Development conducted an experiment comparing the effectiveness of an agricultural drone with a traditional backpack sprayer in dealing with unweeded plots and manually weeded plots.

Drone allowed the spraying of 20 and 40 liters of herbicides per hectare.

Based on results, the 20-liter drone treatment attained 80 to 100 percent weed control without plant damage due to chemicals, matching the backpack sprayer in producing the highest grain yield.

Best practices

PhilRice aims to continue validating the results through trials in different sites and study the economic viability of adopting drones to ensure practical adoption by farmers.

“This gives us a concrete basis for developing future standards and best practices in drone-based pest control,” PhilRice Weed scientist Dindo King Donayre said.

Donayre said this research was crucial in developing the Integrated Pest Management (IPM) approach, which combines drone spraying with seeding and fertilizer application into a complete IPM system.

The system aims to reduce production costs, ensure safer and faster applications and enhance pest management while reducing its environmental impact.

Before tapping drone technology, PhilRice launched the Scaling, Modern, and Adaptive Rice Technologies for Better Rice-Farming Communities  Program to modernize rice farming.

Precision tools

The program offers different digital precision tools to help rice farmers manage their harvests, including Binhing Palay, which presents a catalog of Philippine rice varieties, and eDamuhan, a tool for improved weed management practices.

It also features Rice Crop Manager, a site-specific crop and nutrient management tool, as well as the Minus-One-Element Technique and Leaf Color Chart App to help determine fertilizer needs.

The initiative also entails deploying high-yielding inbred varieties that are resistant to major pests, promoting saline-tolerant varieties for stress-prone areas and conducting training on hybrid rice production.

PhilRice will also introduce modern farm machines to reduce labor costs and boost productivity. INQ

Published Date: October 7, 2025