DRONES USED IN POLLINATION

[Anchor Lead]

Fruit farmers are scrambling to find ways to pollinate their orchards as honeybees have either disappeared or died all across the country this spring. It takes a lot of manpower to artificially pollinate fruit trees by hand. But now drones, instead of bees or humans, are used for pollination for higher efficiency.

[Pkg]

Apple trees in this orchard are abloom with white blossoms. A drone is flying over the apple trees and sprays a solution mixed with pollens. Honeybees, which have been used for pollination, have disappeared this spring due to climate change, leaving orchard owners to pollinate by hand. But now this drone is taking over the job of artificial pollination.

[Soundbite] Lee Hyang-geun(Apple Farme) : "Orchard farmers are having a hard time because there are no honeybees left for pollination. The most serious problem is that there’s manpower shortage."

Apples are hard to pollinate artificially because its leaves sprout and flowers bloom simultaneously. In this case, the drone sprays a substance that facilitates pollination to increase the success rate. It costs about 25% less to use a drone instead of human workers. Not only that, drone pollination blocks outside germs from being brought into orchards and thus prevents the spread of fire blight. Also, the wind caused by a drone could increase the efficiency of artificial pollination.

[Soundbite] Kim Gap-sik(Seosan City Gov’t) : "Drones can pollinate evenly and be even more successful if bee attracting agents are used."

The city of Seosan plans to test this drone pollination project at 14 apple orchards this year and check the condition of pollinated fruits before expanding the use of drones.