THE TECHNICAL Education and Skills Development Authority will soon offer a training program for agricultural drone operation which aims to boost the country’s agriculture, forestry and fishery sector.

The agency, along with stakeholders and experts of agricultural remotely piloted aircraft from the AgriDom Solutions Corp., developed the Competency Standards for Agricultural Drone Operation which will be used by training institutions.

TESDA director general Isidro Lapeña issued a circular containing the guidelines in the deployment of the Competency Standards for Agricultural Drone Operation Level II last week.

He noted that the training program aims to respond to industry skills requirements for agricultural drone operation and produce individuals with 21st Century Skills compliant to the existing industry standards.

“We also want to provide world-class and competent human resources for the Agricultural Drone Operation under the Agriculture, Forestry and Fishery Sector,” he said.

“We should be developing more training programs that would shift the skills of our local farmers from traditional farming to smart farming. We want to make farming more attractive and enticing among the youth,” he added.

Drones help farmers to deal with wide range of challenges. They can be used to estimate soil condition, plant future crops, fight infections and pests, agriculture spraying, crop surveillance, and livestock monitoring, among others.

The TESDA chief encouraged all technical and vocational education and training institutions to register their own agriculture drone operation courses.

According to TESDA’s Qualification and Standards Office, DJI Academy of Region XI has started working on program offerings beginning April 2021.

Based on the competency standards, trainees for agricultural drone operation who will be trained for free must have basic communication and arithmetic skills.

Meanwhile, an agricultural drone operation trainer must be a holder of Trainer’s Methodology Certificate or must be a practicing trainer for two years with two year’s industry experience within the last five years related to Agricultural Remotely Piloted Aircraft Operation; and must be a holder of Remotely Piloted Aircraft license.

Graduates of Agricultural Drone Operation could be employed as Ground Support, Junior Drone Pilots, and Senior Drone Pilots.