The people behind the flights

VegeDrone started with a simple observation: Indian farmers rarely get to see their fields from above. Our team combines drone engineering, agronomy, and field experience to change that. Every survey we run is planned and interpreted by people who have walked through the same fields they map.

Read our mission
Founder and lead agronomist

Ankita Sami

Ankita spent eight years working with smallholder farms in Rajasthan before founding VegeDrone. She saw how delayed pest detection wiped out months of work, and she built the company around early warning systems that give farmers time to act. She still joins field visits every week.

Head of flight operations

Vijay Kumar Sampath

Vijay flew survey drones for infrastructure projects before switching to agriculture. He handles flight planning, sensor calibration, and the logistics of reaching remote fields on schedule. His team has completed over 400 survey flights across Gujarat, Maharashtra, and Karnataka.

Data science lead

Zara Samir Ahuja

Zara turns raw multispectral captures into vegetation index maps that farmers can actually read. She works closely with agronomists to make sure every colour on a map translates into a clear field action, not just a pretty visual. Her background is in remote sensing and crop modelling.

Field support coordinator

Ravi Chandran

Ravi manages the ground side of every survey: marking field boundaries, checking weather windows, and walking through results with farmers after each flight. He speaks four regional languages and makes sure the data lands in the hands of the person who will act on it.

Sensor and hardware engineer

Meera Nair

Meera maintains the drone fleet and adapts sensor payloads for different crop types and field conditions. She tests new camera configurations before they go into service and keeps the equipment running through dusty summers and humid monsoon months.

Training and adoption specialist

Arjun Deshmukh

Arjun runs onboarding sessions for farmers and local agri-extension teams. He focuses on practical interpretation: what a yellow patch on the NDVI map means, when to irrigate, and where to scout first. His workshops have trained more than 200 farmers across three states.

Trusted by farms and agri-organisations across India

We work with smallholder cooperatives, commercial growers, and state agriculture extension teams. These are the partners who helped shape our survey workflows and field reporting standards.

Rajasthan Cooperative Farming Network

Field trials for mustard and wheat NDVI mapping across 14 villages near Jodhpur.

Krishi Vigyan Kendra, Nagaur

Joint training sessions on reading vegetation index maps and soil moisture reports.

GreenValley Agro Services

Commercial orchard surveys for citrus and pomegranate blocks in the Deccan plateau.

AgriTech Foundation of India

Pilot programme to bring drone-based crop health checks to smallholder farms in central India.

North Gujarat Cotton Growers Association

Season-long pest stress monitoring and irrigation gap detection on cotton fields.

Our Story: From Field Observations to Data-Driven Farming

Updated March 2025

VegeDrone started in 2021 with a simple observation: Indian farmers were making critical decisions about irrigation, pest control, and nutrients based on guesswork. We believed aerial imaging could change that. What began as a two-person team flying a single drone over mustard fields near Jodhpur has grown into a full agri-tech service covering hundreds of acres across Rajasthan and Gujarat. Our mission remains unchanged - give every farmer, from smallholders to commercial growers, the same clarity that large agribusinesses have had for years.

Why We Started VegeDrone

The idea came from a failed crop season. In 2020, a farmer we knew lost nearly half his guar crop to a pest infestation that went unnoticed for three weeks. By the time the damage was visible from the ground, treatment was too late. We realised that the only way to catch such problems early was to look at fields from above, where stress patterns show up days before they are visible at eye level. Multispectral sensors could detect changes in plant reflectance that the naked eye simply cannot see.

  • Visible damage appears days or weeks after the actual stress begins
  • Ground-level scouting covers only a fraction of a large field
  • Smallholder farms rarely have access to the same tools as large agribusinesses
  • Early detection can mean the difference between a treatable issue and a total loss

The People Behind the Drones

Our team combines agricultural science with remote sensing expertise. Ankita Sami, our lead agronomist, spent eight years working with extension services in Punjab before joining VegeDrone. Vijay Kumar Sampath handles flight operations and sensor calibration, bringing experience from a decade of aerial surveying. Zara Samir Ahuja leads data interpretation, translating complex vegetation indices into plain-language recommendations that farmers can act on the same day.

  • Ankita Sami - Lead Agronomist, specialises in crop stress identification and treatment planning
  • Vijay Kumar Sampath - Flight Operations, manages flight planning and sensor maintenance
  • Zara Samir Ahuja - Data Interpretation, converts NDVI and moisture maps into field-specific advice

How We Work With Farmers

We do not sell drones or software subscriptions. We run scheduled aerial surveys and hand over clear, actionable reports. A typical engagement starts with a baseline flight to map the field, followed by regular surveys at key growth stages. Each report includes vegetation index maps, soil moisture estimates, and specific recommendations - which sections need more water, where pest pressure is building, and which areas show nutrient deficiency. Farmers take the report to their local agronomist or use it directly to adjust their practices.

  • Baseline survey establishes the health profile of the entire field
  • Follow-up flights track changes across the growing season
  • Reports use colour-coded maps that require no technical training to read
  • Recommendations are specific to each field, not generic advice

What We Have Learned So Far

Five years in, we have learned that technology adoption is not about fancy dashboards. It is about trust. Farmers need to see a drone survey catch a real problem before they believe in it. Our first repeat clients came from a single season where our maps identified an irrigation gap in a cumin field that the farmer had not noticed. Once they verified the issue on the ground, word spread. Today, most of our new clients come from referrals within their farming communities.

  • Adoption happens when farmers verify our findings on the ground
  • Reports must be simple enough to share with a local agronomist
  • Timing matters more than frequency - surveys at critical growth stages deliver the most value
  • Local language support and on-field follow-ups build lasting trust

Where We Are Heading

We are expanding our coverage to more districts and testing new sensors for early disease detection. We are also working on a simpler reporting format for smallholders who may not have access to agronomists. The goal is not to replace human expertise but to give every farmer a clearer picture of what is happening in their fields. Data-driven farming should not be a privilege of large estates; it should be a standard tool for anyone who works the land.

  • Expanding flight coverage to new districts in Rajasthan and Gujarat
  • Testing thermal sensors for early disease detection in pulse crops
  • Developing simplified reports for smallholder farmers
  • Building a network of local agronomists who can act on our data
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