INTRODUCTION

In 2022, the total rice cultivation areas in Paraguay were 205,744 hectares, with a production of 975,069 tons. The averaged rice productivity is 6.6 tons per hectare (Dirección de Censos y Estadísticas Agropecuarias; Ministerio de Agricultura y Ganadería [DCEA/MAG], 2024). Tenant rice farmers in Paraguay lack land ownership and due to significant limitations in accessing machinery tools, result- ing in low crop productivity and economic stability (Viladesau, 1996). Increasing cultivation area and production requires addressing challenges such as limited access t o water, a ging i nfrastructure, and financing (World Bank Group, 2019).

In Paraguay, rice cultivation is performed using direct sowing in dry paddy fields. The greatest challenge of this system is the high incidence of weeds (Hossain et al., 2020). Because irrigation is not provided before seed germination after sowing, weed seeds present in the soil readily establish, which can result in high levels of weed growth. In addition, when weed seeds or red rice (a weedy rice) are mixed with the rice seeds being sown, the weed seeds are introduced simultaneously, further increasing the incidence of weeds and red rice in the paddy fields (Hossain et al., 2020). Among these, the most problematic species is Carolina primrose-willow (Ludwigia bonariensis)( Figure 1), a weed native to South America that thrives in flooded soils (Tarrago et al., 2018). Weed control is therefore a critical determinant of rice productivity in Paraguay, as weed incidence is particularly severe in rice-growing areas (Fischer et al., 2024). The irrigation method used in Paraguay also contributes to weed growth. Rice fields are irrigated by the contour line method (Figure 2). Contour irrigation is a method like planting rows follow the natural elevation contours of the land to slow down water flow and reduce soil erosion, in which ridges are constructed to distribute water sequentially across the plot rather than flooding the entire area at once. This practice encourages weed growth along the ridges.

Typically, irrigation begins around 15 days after sowing, when rice seeds germinate. After irrigation, herbicides are usually applied at least three times until harvest. However, once the paddy fields are irrigated, tractor-based herbicide application becomes difficult. Manual application, while possible, is labor-intensive and prevents timely control, reducing weeding efficiency and negatively affecting both grain quality and yield.

Mechanized agriculture in Paraguay began in the southern region in the 20th century with the introduction of the first tractors. It was further intensified in the 1960s with the Green Revolution, the growth of family farming, and specialization in monocultures such as soybeans (Ramos, 2016). In Paraguay, where rice fields are large, mechanization is essential for agricultural work; however, rental costs are high (Fischer et al., 2024). Tenant farmers commonly rent seed drills, disc harrows (rastradoras), soil levelers (niveladoras) to prepare the field, contour builders (taipeadoras) to build the ridges, and harvesters. Most machinery is rented from rice-purchasing companies, with payment deducted after harvest, often at undervalued grain prices (Viladesau, 1996). Renting a harvester alone costs approximately US$180 per hectare, including the cost of the driver and fuel for the machine. Based on the rental costs for agricultural supplies and machinery recorded in the 2023/2024 KOrea Partnership for Innovation of Agriculture (KOPIA) rice model village, total cost reached US$597.25 per hectare. Of these, the machinery rental accounted for approximately 52.7% of the total (Fischer et al., 2024).

In rice fields, drones are mainly used to spray pesticides such as herbicides, insecticides, and fungicides, and to apply urea fertilizer. The use of drones in agriculture plays a crucial role in sustainable and efficient agriculture by improving yields, reducing environmental impacts, and increasing economic efficiency (Nazarov et al., 2023). In Paraguay, tenant farmers began using drones only one or two years ago (as of 2024), and they are invaluable for pesticide spraying during the rice irrigation season. Among the 35 tenant farmers participating in the KOPIA rice model village project in the Itapúa Department, three had experience renting drones. Farmers actively using drones in rice farming rented drones approximately eight times during a single crop season. The drone rental cost of US$13 to US$14 per hectare is too expensive for tenant farmers, making it difficult for them to use drones even if they want to. In Paraguay, drones are primarily used for spraying herbicides, insecticides, and fungicides. It is particularly widely used for controlling stink bugs (Plautia stali) and weed s. H erbicides a re a pplied an average of t hree times during a crop season, and the number of herbicide applications significantly affects rice yield and quality. Herbicide use has been reported to affect crop yields (Jehangir et al., 2024;Ramírez and Plaza, 2015). In Paraguay, farmers who do not use drones to spray herbicides during the flood stages spray them manually. When spraying pesticides with a backpack sprayer, most workers perform the task without protective equipment such as masks, which can lead to pesticide poisoning. Spraying pesticides over a 20-hectare area takes one hour using a drone, while spraying the same area manually would take approximately 10 days for one person working 10 hours a day. Agricultural mechanization has a positive impact on agricultural production by increasing yields, improving the efficiency of farm work, and reducing labor costs, thereby contributing to the expansion of cultivated land and strengthening food security (Olasehinde-Williams et al., 2020). The use of advanced machinery in agriculture allows for more precise crop management and timely farm operations, minimizing crop losses due to pests and diseases, and enabling more intensive farming (Godavari et al., 2024). In China, mechanization has increased wheat production in wheat fields by expanding the planting area and increasing yield per unit area (Wang et al., 2025). It has been reported that mechanisation in Zimbabwe has significantly reduced the burden of labour on women (Kang et al., 2014). Many studies have reported that agricultural machinery improves agricultural productivity and farm income in the short and medium term by increasing labor productivity and work speed (Cao et al., 2021;Gebiso et al., 2024;Mottaleb et al., 2017;Zou and Ma, 2022). In Bangladesh, improving access to agricultural machinery through rental or sharing farm machinery services contributed to increased productivity, demonstrating that farmers can benefit from the use of agricultural machinery even without personal ownership. The core of this service delivery model was to foster leading farmers, who made the initial investment in machinery purchases and then provided services to other farmers in exchange for a fee for each service (Mottaleb et al., 2017).

In Paraguay, K OPIA c ond ucted a p roject t o increase production by establishing model villages at the community level for tenant farmers in major rice-producing areas of Paraguay from 2021 to 2024 (Fischer et al., 2024). This study demonstrates the case study of KOPIA providing free drones to participating farmer communities from August 2024, allowing farmers to manage and operate the drones independently. The project also outlines a case study in which farmers shared the use of drones during a rice crop season while adhering to shared-use regulations.

METHODS, RESULTS, AND DISCUSSION

CASE STUDY REGIONS AND COMMUNITIES

The study targeted farmers who participated in the KOPIA rice model village project in Itapúa and Misiones departments, major rice-producing regions in southern Paraguay. Each department comprised three communities. In the Itapúa Department, farmers from the communities of Capai (Coronel Bogado City), Tacuary (Coronel Bogado City), a nd San C osme y D amián (San C osme y D amián City) participated. In the Misiones Department, farmers from the communities of Sarandy Ko`e Poty (Santa María City), S an F ernand o (Santa M aría C ity), a nd Ita M oroti (Santa Rosa City) participated. A total of 85 farmers participated in both departments, and the total rice cultivation area using drones was 2,042 ha (Table 1). Regarding age, about 5% of the participating farmers were in their late 30s, most were in their 40s and 50s, and about 10% were over 60. Most of them grow rice solely, not other crops. In the Itapúa group, three farmers out of 35 had experience using drones, while all but one of the Misiones group had never used a drone, making that region slightly more underdeveloped than Itapúa (Table 1). Farmers in the Itapúa group were slightly better off economically than those in Misiones, and each farm had a larger cultivation area. In terms of road access to the rice paddies, the Itapúa group's rice paddies were significantly more accessible from roads than those in Misiones.

LISTENING TO FARMERS’ OPINIONS ON DRONE SHARING

KOPIA asked farmers who participated in the KOPIA rice model village project in the Itapúa and Misiones departments if they could share and manage drones if KOPIA p rovided them. KOPIA a lso explained how d rones could be utilized in rice farming. All farmers expected to be provided with drones and expressed a strong interest in utilizing them for rice farming. Three farmers from the Itapúa Department, having previously rented drones, expressed the significant benefits of owning their own drones. When outsourcing drone service, peak periods of d rone u sage o ften r esult in m issing t he o ptimal s praying window. Furthermore, sometimes drones are deployed early in the morning, reducing the effectiveness of pesticide spraying due to dew. In some cases, drone services are conducted before sunrise, resulting in uneven spraying and reduced pesticide effectiveness.

Farmers discussed where to store the drones when they are not being used for more than a week. While storing drones at the municipality that are easily accessible to all communities makes it easy to transport them for use, it was suggested that storing drones at a neutral location eliminates the possibility of interference from the municipality regarding drone use, which could hinder fair use by community farmers and potentially lead to drones being used by non-community farmers. Therefore, it was decided to store drones at the Paraguayan Institute of Agricultural Technology (IPTA) regional centers, IPTA-Capitán Miranda for the Itapúa Department group, and IPTA-San Juan Bautista for the Misiones Department group.

Furthermore, in the early stages of shared drone use, there was a consensus that someone needed to mediate between community members in case of operational disagreements. Therefore, KOPIA was involved as a mediator during the early stages of drone use and contributed to establishing drone use regulations.

DRONE MODEL AND ACCESSORIES

The drone model provided to each group was the DJI AGRAS T40, purchased in March 2024. Other components provided alongside the drones included a spraying tank for solid fertilizers, a mixing tank for the liquid chemicals, a generator for battery charging, and four batteries.

FOSTERING DRONE PILOTS

Two pilots were chosen from each group, two from the Itapúa Department group and two from the Misiones Department group. This was done to ensure a backup in case one pilot could not work in an emergency. To prevent external pilots from quitting due to personal issues or demanding higher fees over time, the pilots were selected from within the community's families. All four d rone pilots are sons or daughters of participating community farmers. Three out of the four pilots graduated from or are currently studying in agricultural universities. KOPIA helped them receive drone pilot training and certification. Considering that KOPIA supported them to obtain their drone pilot license, it was required that they serve as drone pilots in their respective community groups for at least two years. To help the drone pilots become familiar with drone operation, two pilots worked together during the first month, and then each pilot worked alone.

In addition to providing agricultural services with the drones, the pilots were tasked with monitoring the occurrence of diseases and pests in the community rice paddy fields and informing the community farmers.

SECRETARY APPOINTMENT AND BUDGET MANAGEMENT

Secretaries were selected through recommendations from the community farmers within the Itapúa Department group and the Misiones Department group, one person from each group. The secretaries were chosen from among the community farmers who are capable of using computers. The secretary's role is to receive requests for drone services from community farmers and coordinate the service dates. The secretary is also responsible for the management of budget income and expenditures, including receiving drone usage fees from farmers and paying the pilot's labor cost per operation. To ensure all expenses, including collected drone fees, are recorded in a bank account, the secretary was required to open a bank account to m anage the community f und s. F or t he I tapúa D epartment group, it was not difficult for farmers to deposit d rone u sage f ees into t he c ommunity's b ank account. However, for the communities in the Misiones Department group, most farmers, with a few exceptions, did not have their own bank accounts and were unfamiliar with transferring money to bank accounts, so fees were collected and managed in cash.

After the completion of one rice-growing season, it was stipulated that the budget must be disclosed publicly with the participation of all farmers in the community.

DRONE SERVICE COSTS AND SELF-HELP FUNDING

The cost per unit area for drone usage was publicly determined after considering the opinions of all drone users. Considering that renting a drone externally for pesticide spraying costs $13-14 per hectare, the Itapúa Department group set the cost at US$5.2 per hectare, while Misiones set it at US$5.6. For spraying solid fertilizer (urea), considering that renting a drone externally costs approximately US$0.3 per kg, both groups set the cost at US$0.14. Usage fees were to be paid before or immediately upon the drone service. The l abor cost paid to the drone p ilot p er h ectare for each farming operation performed by the drone is US$2. The monthly salary for the secretary was set at US$200 per month for Itapúa and US$150 per month for Misiones.

For transporting the drone to the rice paddy fields where it would be used, in Itapúa, the vehicles of the farmers who requested the drone service were used for transportation. In Misiones, the drone pilot used his own vehicle, and the fuel costs incurred for transportation were paid from the common fund. For drone operations, the drone must be safely transported to the field. Since there are many items to transport besides the drone, such as pesticide mixing tanks and generators, using the farmers’ vehicles for transport presents some difficulties. Therefore, the different approaches chosen by the Itapúa group and Misiones group were decided through discussions among the community farmers, considering various factors such as the location of the rice paddy and the availability of vehicles suitable for transporting the drone to the work site, to suit each community's specific circumstances.

The essential expenditures for shared drone use are drone pilot labor costs, the secretary's monthly salary, fuel for the generator, and machine repairs or spare parts. Additionally, Misiones farmers covered fuel costs from the communal fund. The accumulated communal fund is planned for purchasing a new drone once the current one reaches the end of its life span.

During drone operations, farmers who requested the service assisted the drone pilot rather than leaving it solely to them. This approach reduces the labor costs that would otherwise be incurred for assisting the drone pilots (Figure 3).

DRONE SERVICE

Regarding the order of drone service, it was argued that it would be unfair if, during the peak rice cultivation season, drone services were conducted strictly in the order of requests received, regardless of whether the tenant farmers had a large or small field area. Therefore, for areas exceeding twice the average rice paddy area of farmers using drone sharing, the order of operation has been postponed. Whenever possible, drone use requests must be submitted to the secretary one week in advance to allow the drone pilots to plan the services. This reduces driving distance and enables pilots to use their time efficiently during peak drone operation periods.

When pests infest a field, spraying pesticides often yields low control effectiveness because pests migrate to neighboring fields and later return. Therefore, it was recommended to spray pesticides simultaneously on all the community fields within the same area during the pest infestation season.

DRONE USE IN THE ITAPÚA AND MISIONES DEPARTMENTS

Drone use from August 2024 to July 2025, the rice planting season in Paraguay, is shown in Table 2. The number of drone services conducted was 106 in the Itapúa Department group and 118 in the Misiones Department group. In Itapúa, drones were used to spray 14,563.1 kg of urea, whereas in Misiones, drones were used to spray 43,644.3 kg of urea. Based on the total flight time for both groups, it appeared that drones were more effectively utilized for u rea spraying i n the Misiones g roup.

In Paraguay, tenant farmers typically repay the cost of renting machinery needed for farming, including pesticides and fertilizers, with rice after the harvest (Viladesau, 1996). However, since this study required immediate payment f or d rone u sage fees, a ll farmers in t he M isiones group complied with the regulations and used drones, even though some farmers experienced some economic burden in paying the drone fees.

Table 3 shows the net revenue for the Itapúa group, after deducting the drone operation expenses from the total service fees collected from farmers. During one growing season (August 2024 - June 2025), the Itapúa Department group received a total amount of US$15,800 from farmers as drone service fees. After deducting US$11,089 in expenses, including fuel, the drone pilot labor, and other operational costs, the group retained a balance of US$4,711. This saved amount represents approximately 29.8% of the total fees received. Given that spare part expenses are expected to increase with increasing drone usage, the current savings suggest that sufficient funds have been accumulated to cover future repair and maintenance needs.

In Bangladesh, public and private agricultural machinery rental centers and agricultural machinery service providers have been reported to be effective in reducing the financial burden of initial investment for small-scale farmers (Mottaleb et al., 2017). Similarly, in Tanzania, a machine operation model based on agreed-upon and fair regulations was proposed to ensure the continued use of feed cutters among farmers growing corn, soybeans, and rice while raising livestock (Fischer et al., 2018). In developing countries where government support for agriculture is limited, farm machinery sharing models such as the one examined here allow farmers to collectively finance the use, maintenance, and eventual acquisition of farm machinery. Such models offer a viable pathway for promoting agricultural mechanization while mitigating the financial burden of individual ownership of expensive machinery.

CONCLUSION

This study examined the feasibility of providing agricultural drones to farming communities, enabling them to raise their own funds to cover machine repair costs while sharing the use of drones. Additionally, it also examined the key factors contributing to farmers’ collective use of agricultural machinery. Transparency emerged as a fundamental condition for sustaining shared use. Therefore, clear regulations must be established to ensure adequate funding, guarantee fair access to agricultural machinery, mandate regular disclosure of operational activities, and maintain transparent financial reporting.

After one year of shared drone use, the community's self-help funds amounted to 29.8% of the fees collected for drone services. This level of savings is expected to be sufficient to cover future drone repairs and spare part costs over time. Therefore, the amount collected and spent on drone fees in this study was deemed appropriate.

The choice of the drone pilot proved particularly important. In this study, three out of the four drone pilots graduated from or are currently studying at an agricultural university and possess knowledge, particularly in fertilizer and pesticide use. This expertise enabled them to guide farmers on the correct application of agrochemicals, earning them high levels of trust and satisfaction from farmers. Especially in developing countries, where access to agricultural education for farmers is limited, the presence of agricultural experts within the community appears to be a critical factor in strengthening local capacity and advancing agricultural development. Selecting the drone pilots from within the communities was the most decisive factor in ensuring the stable and continuous shared use of drones.

For this case study, equally important was the role of the group secretary. The farmer who served as the secretary of the Itapúa Department group was highly responsible and meticulous, maintaining accurate records and transparent budget management. This highlights the importance of appointing a secretary who is computer literate, diligent, and capable of managing financial responsibilities with integrity.

This case study reports the outcomes of a one-year pilot project implemented through KOPIA, which introduced drones to rice farming communities. Future research should assess whether this sharing model can be sustained over multiple years and across regions with different socioeconomic conditions, such as those in the departments of Itapúa and Misiones. If the initiative is discontinued, it will be critical to identify the underlying causes to refine and strengthen future implementations of farm machinery sharing systems.

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