Turkish farmers are employing drones to battle drought and sudden flooding. Small and medium-sized farmers in the country’s rice growing Gönen region are adopting drones to address water scarcity and operational inefficiency.

Turkey is grappling with a significant water challenge: 186 of its 240 lakes have vanished in just 60 years. The Gönen region is the country’s rice basket, and is being hit by swings between extremes. Periods of costly irrigation and sudden rains can leave fields too muddy for tractors, while overall water shortages threaten yields.

“When the field is wet, tractors can’t access it until the ground dries,” said rice farmer Recep Gökmen. That sometimes meant waiting up to fifteen days, missing spraying windows and losing productivity.

“With traditional methods, whenever applications overlapped, parts of the crop would burn or get damaged,” said Hüseyin Armağan, a local rice farmer who manages 110 hectares of rice paddies in a family farm. Heavy machinery often crushes seedlings, chemicals can be wasted through drift. Finding enough skilled hands each season can also be a constant struggle.

Turkey’s agriculture sector consumes about 70% of the nation’s water. Layered atop rising energy and input costs, and unpredictable market prices, small producers face razor-thin margins. All these pressures have pushed local farmers to reconsider traditional methods, and seek out new solutions.

Both Gökmen and Armağan have adopted the XAG P100 Pro fully autonomous agricultural drone to improve efficiency on their farms. It is capable of precise spraying, fertiliser spreading, and seeding. It has a foldable design, a 50-kilogram payload, and simple smartphone controls.

For the Gökmens, the transition to drones marked a major shift. Recep’s Gökmens’ son, Özgür, is gradually taking over the farm from his father, and has embraced the drone’s technology. “I put in the settings, and it just does its job — no intervention needed while it’s flying. And when the spraying is finished, it lands exactly where it took off,” Özgür said. This workflow shift has ended exhausting late nights and the scramble for seasonal labour during peak periods.

For Armağan, what once took days now finishes in hours, no matter the field’s size or slope. The XAG drone can safely fly under power lines and over uneven ground. “Before, if it rained, we couldn’t get into the field for a week or more. Now, after just a day or two, the drone can be out applying exactly the right amounts, right where needed. We don’t waste time or resources any more,” he said.

Resource savings have been significant. With conventional tractor sprayers, water use on a single decare (1 decare equals 0.1 hectare) was up to 40 litres. Now the drone needs just 1 to 5 litres. Pesticide use is nearly halved, from as much as 100 grams per decare, down to just 40 to 60 grams. Fertiliser and seed are spread with precision, stopping the waste and loss that previously happened at the edges or due to wind drift.

Labour demands have shrunk as well. Where both families once relied on hired workers and long hours, these same fields now require just one or two experienced operators. “Two people do all the work in this business now,” said Özgür. Older and younger members of the family farm can now collaborate, but with far less physical strain and clock pressure.

Personal exposure to chemicals has also decreased significantly. Crops are healthier, with no more trampling, missed patches, or burnt seedlings. “You simply see less waste and less damage,” Armağan said. “And the drone’s coverage is always uniform.”

For rural communities like Gönen, this means a better standard of living and renewed optimism. Young people are now less likely to leave farming for city jobs, since agriculture offers high-tech tools and increased profitability. Fields are cleaner and yields are rising. Armağan estimates his yields have increased by about 10 percent — a substantial gain when working hundreds of hectares.

“In terms of labour, fuel, and everything else, you win in agriculture,” said Recep. “It gives us confidence: there are no leftovers, no shortages—everything lands where it should.”