Understanding agricultural drone

Technology is becoming a growing phenomenon in man’s everyday activities. It has become a major part of man’s existence, thanks to numerous innovations and inventions that have made life easier for mankind.

The use of technology these days covers virtually the entire set-up that makes up man’s daily activities, be it in business/trading, construction, telecom, I.T, security, transport, agriculture and a host of others.

However, in the agricultural sector, technology has been adopted as a major tool for advancement in large scale farm produce and healthy harvest. The latest technology in the agricultural sector is the use of drones.

The agricultural drone is a growing technology that has received wide acceptance in the western world with a far-reaching effect in enabling healthy growth in cropping and livestock. The synergy between agriculture and drone technology has led to a huge demand for drones, and also encouraged a stress-free farming method for mankind.

The agricultural drone is an unmanned aerial vehicle used for mechanized farming and which in turn helps in the increase of crop production and monitoring crop growth. It’s an innovation that uses sensors and digital imaging features that give farmers a better picture of their fields. This information may prove useful in improving crop yields and farm efficiency.

As a global trend, the agricultural drone has been hugely invested in by major heavyweights in the agricultural sector across Europe, Asia and North America. The application of drones for mechanized farming is popular in European nations like the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Italy, and Spain.

In the African continent, drone technology is gradually gaining presence. Though not yet popular, the technology has been introduced through the use of awareness projects and training for farmers in countries like Cameroon, Ghana, Zambia, South Africa, Kenya, Morocco and a few others.

These agricultural companies have been able to seize the benefit of this invention to their advantage, thereby, causing a huge increase in productivity as a result of high demands in agricultural produce ranging from cash crops to livestock.

Similarly, Agricultural drone holds a very high advantage in farming. Many have described it as “precision agriculture”, a method of using less to get more. The use of drones in farming is cost-efficient.  As a matter of fact, it is of the most important benefit to farming as it helps farm owners to save more in that one would not have to pay as many labourers as in a situation whereby 100 labourers are needed for crop assessment, the drones can easily do all of that faster and better.

Also, in a situation where there’s a shortage of labour, agricultural drones are a perfect alternative to carry out farming activities as it can easily cover for limited manpower. This, in turn, will help improve productivity as man’s level of demand for agricultural produce rises day by day.

Putting into consideration all these numerous benefits of agricultural drones, it will be great if the African agricultural market can adopt this new age technological wonder, most especially Nigeria.

Segun Michael Adeyemi,

sagunadeyemi@gmail.com.