Evaluating Farm Management Performance by the Choice of Pest-Control Sprayers in Rice Farming in Japan

With rapidly advancing technologies such as IoT, AI, robotics, and others, smart agriculture in Japan has been introduced tested throughout the country. The validity of implementation could be measured by using cost analysis, working capacity assessment, management efficiency analysis. In this study, we focused on pest-control management, wherein unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) for crop spraying have recently introduced. order to clarify UAVs rice fields regarding costs performance, conducted a comparative study sprayers, specifically: (1) tractor- mounted boom (2) remote-control helicopters (RC helicopters), (3) UAVs. We estimated each method. also evaluated 21 case scenarios different sprayers field areas ranging from 0.5 30 ha data envelopment analysis (DEA) based an input-oriented model. used input output gross farm income surplus capacity. Pest-control per unit area RC helicopters, were approximately 925,597 yen/ha (US $8819/ha), 6,924,455 $65,975/ha), 791,724 $7543/ha), respectively. during scheduled days was 120, 195, 135 ha, DEA results suggested that would more efficient than analyzed cases. showed relatively low high compared helicopters; hence suitable replacement save time.