A NEW WAVE OF FARMING

Kenya’s agricultural sector is dubbed as the backbone of the economy, contributing to 33% of Kenya’s gross domestic product and employing more than 40% of the total population. Improving the industry would increase the economic value of the country and the standards of the general working-class citizens involved in agriculture today.?

Organizations such as FutureWater have made advancements in this sector and have come up with the project ‘MapYourCrop’ geared towards improving crop observation for better food and crop performance through the use of drones.

Crop observation can be difficult for farmers, especially when observing crops on a large area of land. FutureWater decided that flying sensors/drones could be utilized in making crop monitoring easier, as drones would be able to capture images of farmland with an ‘unprecedented level of detail’. Drones capture images and these images allow farmers to track the ‘vegetation status’ of their crops. With this data, farmers are able to easily identify areas where their land needs more attention in terms of irrigation, fertilization, or weeding.

FutureWater, in partnership with @iLabAfrica- Strathmore University through the TWIGA project (a partnership between organizations involved in environmental research and consultation and working together towards providing ‘unavailable information’ on weather, water, and climate for sub-Saharan Africa) hosted a training session focused on educating software engineers on the basics of drone flying, image capturing, and crop monitoring. Trainees were introduced to the basics of drone flying and the different types of drones used in imagery viewing, image collection, and data reporting.

The trainees also learned about the safety precautions to follow when using/ flying drones. Part of the training allowed participants to visit the Ruera coffee farm located in Kiambu county, where they had a hands-on experience of flying drones. At the coffee farm, they were also able to acquire and process crop images, monitor crop stress, track crop performance and identify areas in the farm that needed more attention in regards to watering, fertilization, weeding, and killing crops pests. This training is meant to prepare software engineers in future research projects in agriculture.

“If drones are adopted in agriculture, farmers can utilize them in crop farming to mitigate a series of problems crop farmers face today. Today’s farmers need to learn and keep up with technological advancements as this will further their production when it comes to crop farming,” said Stephen Ngetitch- IoT Software Developer @iLabAfrica.

He further added that “through these technological advancements, farmers will be able to track soil fertility, identify soil erosion in their lands, monitor crop performance, reduce farm expenses, save time and as a result increase production of better crops.

The one-week training instilled confidence in the trainees about their new drone piloting skills; having learned the basic foundations of handling flying sensors and gained more knowledge in the agribusiness and farming sector. They were enthusiastic about handling more projects that use technology in agriculture.

For more information on TWIGA and its project/project partners visit:?https://website.twiga-h2020.eu/.

For More information on the training write to:[email protected].

To learn and know more about @iLabAfrica visit:?https://www.ilabafrica.ac.ke/.