TWENTY-FOUR drone pilots became the first batch to graduate from a training center operated by Shenzhen-based DJI, the world’s largest drone maker, Monday, according to a Southern Metropolis Daily report.

    The training center, located in Longhua New Area, has provided the pilots with various courses covering the basic structures of unmanned aerial vehicles, the use and maintenance of agricultural plant protection drones, disease and pest control for crops and relevant laws and regulations.

    In other words, these pilots not only learned how to maintain and operate drones, but also about the agricultural plant protection industry.

    Over the past two years, a growing number of drones have been used in aerial videoing, mapping, emergency rescue, geological prospecting and pesticide spraying.

    According to DJI, the nationwide demand for drones has exceeded 500,000, including 100,000 drones used for agricultural plant protection. This means that there is a huge gap between the demand and supply of drone pilots. The company said that Shenzhen, as the global drone manufacturing center, will become an up-and-coming training base for drone pilots in the future.

    (Zhang Yang)