IT Home on October 25: According to a report by the British “Financial Times” today (25th) morning, Jayfu Technology, a Chinese agricultural drone company that received investment from SoftBank, aims to enable “every farmer to have their own robot”. Facing a continuous decline in agricultural labor and rising temperatures, Jayfu believes that plant protection drones that do not require operator control can help farmers cope with these dual challenges.
In terms of revenue, Meiwai is the second-largest agricultural drone manufacturer in the world, after DJI. The company has launched a series of automated drone landing sites. After the drone lands, it can automatically be cleaned, charged, and supplied with liquid medicine, and the system can also plan the spraying routes by itself.
Gong Jiahin, Senior Vice President of Jetech Technology, pointed out that the lack of labor and the aging of agricultural workers are two major challenges faced by Chinese farms. Many farms also have difficulty finding drone operators who are available to perform spraying operations. Climate change makes weather conditions more extreme, and it makes the intelligent and automated management of agriculture even more urgent. “In the future, every farmer will have their own robot. This will bring revolutionary changes, as we believe that the biggest obstacle to the development of the drone industry at present is the operators.”
Gong Jiaqin pointed out that flyers often hope to finish spraying a field as soon as possible and then head to the next one. Farms in remote areas are also difficult to attract flyers.
Another force driving agriculture toward automation is the rapid loss of agricultural labor. “AI companies talk about valuation and market size, focusing on how many people they can replace. We do the opposite: the number of workers that will be lost in the next five years means the size of the market.”
Gong Jiqin estimated that approximately 12 million people in China move from rural areas to cities every year. At the rate of population movement, China will need 3 million drones in the next three years; if all the national farmland is covered, the demand for drones could reach as high as 12 million.
PaiFei’s drones, agricultural robots, and farmland sensors are sold to nearly 70 countries, including the United States, Brazil, and many regions in Africa and Southeast Asia.
Jifei was established in 2007. Initially, it operated a model aircraft brand targeting ordinary consumers. Currently, it is preparing for an IPO in Hong Kong. According to Caplight’s estimates, Jifei’s valuation in the 2023 funding round is approximately $1.5 billion (Note from IT Home: at current exchange rates, this is approximately 10.034 billion RMB). SoftBank holds a 12.9% stake.
Gong Jiqin expects that in order to cope with the labor shortage, farms outside China may need between 5 million and 10 million drones over the next ten years.
The United States has strict restrictions on the sale of new Chinese drones. Jiefei has dropped to second place in its largest overseas market, while Brazil has risen to first place. Gong Jichin believes that expanding the US market will be “even more difficult” in the future. Nevertheless, Jiefei recently still received approval from regulatory authorities, allowing it to sell its latest models of drones in the US.
He also pointed out that in the face of the threat of climate change, even farmers who are accustomed to traditional farming methods are beginning to change their attitude toward new technologies such as drones. “Technology, weather, and labor shortages intersect together… The situation faced by farmers becomes very complex, and the pressure they bear is also great.”