The Chinese agricultural drone maker is strengthening its global footprint with a focus on “high-potential” SEA market, targeting young pilots and high-value crop producers in Vietnam and Thailand.
Directly south of China, SEA has a similar agricultural landscape to China, making XAG’s interest in the region a natural extension of its global ambitions.
“The SEA region is one of our strategic market focuses for now, and even in the next few years. It presents a very high potential for increasing growth,” said Olivia Zhou, branding manager, XAG.
“We have been in this market early on, starting with Vietnam in 2019. We have seen an increasing number of farmers and young people taking interest in our drones. Secondly, the regulations in SEA are really good. Compared to Europe or North America, it is easier for us to penetrate this market more rapidly,” she told AgTechNavigator.
Fruitful expansion
Meanwhile, there is a prime target for agricultural drones growing in region, making it ripe growth.
“There has been an increasing number of small holder farmers adopting our technology, they start by buying services from the drone pilots and then they buy our drones directly for their farmers. These farmers mostly grow fruit, because these are high value crops. This means they usually get higher returns and have the money to buy high-tech drones,” said Zhou.
She highlighted how XAG drones are being used in durian farming to boost productivity as demand for the king of fruits sore across the region.
According to XAG, Vietnam’s durian exports have skyrocketed from $400m in 201 to $3.3b in 2024.
It is now the country’s top fruit export, with prices and demand showing no signs of slowing down.
A Vietnamese durian farmer claimed that XAG’s drones have helped the farm save resources and time.
For instance, XAG’s P150 drone, equipped with the intelligent RevoSpray system, reduces water usage from 3,000 to 800 litres per spray and cuts spraying time from two days to just three hours.
Service first
To penetrate the region, XAG has set up drone services, enabling farmers to utilise drones without purchasing them.
This has been the firm’s winning strategy for many years.
“I think at the very beginning, service is always the best way to approach the farmers,” said Justin Gong, co-founder and vice president of XAG.
“Smallholder farmers are most willing to adopt new technologies compared with the big farms. But the only problem is they are very cost sensitive, so we have to find the right business strategy to approach them and help them adopt the new technology.”
In the last few months, XAG has made significant progress in strengthening its presence in SEA.
Recently, the company signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Chia Tai and Yanmar, two major agriculture players, to develop smart agriculture solutions in Thailand.
In May, XAG announced the opening of an authorised service centre in Thailand in collaboration with Chia Tai.
The facility offers professional repair and maintenance services for agricultural drones and smart farming equipment to support and empower Thai farmers.
Moving forward, the company aims to collaborate with more agriculture players in SEA as it expands.
This will be crucial in countries like Malaysia or Indonesia, where there are small to medium farms growing crops such as palm that can benefit from smart technology.
