Holder urges farmers to invest in drones
Minister of Agriculture Noel Holder
Minister of Agriculture Noel Holder

…useful tool for crop analysis, improving productivity

DRONE technology and robotics in agriculture can be extremely useful in improving farmers’ productivity, and this is being encouraged by the government as it will definitely add to the sector, Minister of Agriculture, Noel Holder has said.

Drones known as remotely piloted aircraft or (unmanned aerial vehicles) UAVs can basically be boiled down to four segments when it comes to agriculture benefits: Crop field scanning with compact multispectral imaging sensors, GPS map creation through onboard cameras, heavy payload transportation, and livestock monitoring with thermal-imaging camera-equipped drones.

Minister of Public Telecommunications, Catherine Hughes

“Our current system of agronomic practices in many sectors is not very efficient given the growing demand for certain commodities. For example, in the rice industry, persons with a smaller cultivation are still manually applying insecticides, fertilisers, etc.,” Minister Holder said in an exclusive interview with the Guyana Chronicle.

He explained that although larger farmers can, or are using aircraft to carry out these activities, smaller farmers cannot use an aircraft to do these things because of the regulations put in place when using an aircraft for these purposes around residential areas. In these circumstances, he said that drone technology can be extremely useful in improving the productivity of these crops.

“Many farmers do not have the correct information about their cultivation size. Drones have the ability to conduct surveys and tell farmers exactly how many acres are under cultivation. With this information, farmers would know how many bags of fertiliser are needed, how many seeds are needed, etc. So overall, the use of drones in agriculture is welcomed and it can definitely improve the sector,” Holder underscored.

Recently, at an IDB-led digital transformation workshop, themed “How technology and innovation are improving people’s lives,” Minister of Public Telecommunications Catherine Hughes said, that robotics in agriculture will be a game changer in the industry.

President of STARR Computer, Mike Mohan

She explained that Guyana can grow exponentially through the right investments in technology, “imagine such an area can be robotics in agriculture and everybody that is interested in agriculture and the development of robots for agriculture could be coming to Guyana. And that is a whole industry that we can develop.”

Meanwhile, President of STARR Computer, Mike Mohan who has been in the technology business for over two decades, said the introduction of drones for agriculture as suggested by the agriculture minister and Minister Cathy Hughes is an incredibly great idea for Guyana, which can create employment, increase foreign exchange and help the world’s food shortage crisis. He explained that “agricultural drones” increase agricultural productivity by over 70 per cent in soil and field analysis, planting, monitoring, spraying, irrigation, health assessment, and ease of deployment.

“Technology is changing the way we live, work and think. Therefore, agricultural producers must embrace revolutionary strategies for producing food, [and] increasing productivity, while making sustainability a priority. Drones are part of the solution; there must also be closer collaboration among governments, technology leaders, and industries,” Mohan noted.

Mohan, who resides in the US, underscored that the number of farmers adopting the use of drones in their farms in developed countries is growing steadily. Drones offer them a low-cost aerial camera platform, this way farmers can cost-effectively monitor their crops. Drones are also used to capture images which are later processed using software to create a reflectance map of the crops on the farmland, he explained.

He said that the Drone’s 3-D maps conduct soil analysis on soil property, moisture content, and soil erosion. This is very important in planning seed planting patterns and even after planting, such data information is useful for both irrigation and the management of the nitrogen level in the soil.

Adding that manufacturers are perfecting the technology for planting shooting pods containing seeds and plant nutrients into the already prepared soil, Mohan said this process significantly reduces the planting costs. “Instant crop monitoring of vast fields has replaced the current manual process, which we deploy on Guyana. This modern monitoring process reduces maintenance costs significantly. Drones can be used to develop time series animations to show precise crop development, which reveals production inefficiencies hence better crop management,” he said.

He added that some drones are capable of scanning crops using visible and near infrared light. On-board light processing devices are then able to identify the amounts of green and near-infrared light reflected by the plants. This data is then used to develop multi-spectral images, which depict the plant health.

“These images can be used to track crop health and to monitor remedied treatment if any sickness is discovered. While extreme weather conditions are on the rise and the world’s population is expected to reach nine billion people by 2050, agricultural demand will increase by up to 70 per cent. Meeting the world’s food demand is a major challenge for most leaders worldwide,” Mohan said.

Mohan concluded that this demand could create huge foreign exchange earning opportunities for Guyana. With a large land mass and small population, “Government needs to create incentives to encourage more farmers and investors to embrace agricultural drone technology, along with affordable land lease opportunities.”

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