SEC | S20W6: "The Use of Drones in Agriculture"

Greetings friends, it's a great privilege to participate in the last week of this challenge

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So far we know that drones result from technological advancement; the most outstanding is increasing productivity. Rice farms most of the of the time are irrigated, and the ground becomes so moist and muddy that it hinders the farmer's trek around to monitor crops activities speedily, so the drones in this case are utilized. Currently, since drones have come with high-class features, the farmer now makes use of them to carry out more advanced tasks like the spraying of pesticides and fertilisers around the farm.

The first drone function was surveillance, and now drones with high camera resolution have been able to detect crops affected or infected by pests, etc. In the northern part of Nigeria, drones are mostly used for land mapping regions with difficult terrain of hills, mountainous areas, and valleys so that a farmer can know a favourable soil to plant crops in.

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Precise Crop Monitoring: Farmers cannot at all times check on these crops, and even when they do, they may not cover a wide range, and they may also get tired. For drones, just ensure they remain in their right condition, are serviced, and will perform the tasks 24/7/365. With a high-resolution camera, drones possess other unique features in terms of imaging; drones have been able to help farmers scan crops, detect diseases and pests, and store the information they get to help farmers know what to do next.

Targeted application of inputs: The information obtained from the drone flight or survey determines the amount of fertiliser to apply in general, the areas to apply them, and what quantity suits each soil area. Similarly, it helps in data-driven decision-making.

Automated Tasks: Advanced drones made for this purpose can spread fertilisers or pesticides on our farms, and this spread is done accurately the way the farmer

Speaking of benefits, drone efficiency encompasses all. The ability of a drone to perform a task and detect diseases and pests faster is top-notch; it enhances productivity and reduces manual division of labour, saving the farmers from excessive cost and time spent.

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Only drones made for this purpose can go this far. This drone has a sensor and infrared technology. When it scans a place with a large amount of water, it indicates and stores the information. Also, for fertiliser, only infrared combined with sensor technology can do this. It gathers data on the nutrients available in the soil, and this data helps the farmer know which area to apply fertilisers or water to improve soil moisture and nutrient level.

Since these spectral bands ranges, each of the bands has a specific area of detection, what I mean is the one that detects plant health may not detect soil conditions due to spectral bands or adjustment, spectral bands are like pointing a green light into a field of green plant at night, without the green light all plant will possess the same colour texture of green but when the light is pointed, some part become light-green and some deep green, some could even be black and this range in colour helps the farmer knows if that area is affected by a disease or a pest, hyperspectral may go far in bring out the skeletal system for more analytic detection of plant health, pest and diseases infestation and soil moisture level or fertiliser amount in the soil.

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We need to understand precision farming before ascertaining how it helps in soil mapping. Precision farming is a farming pattern that makes use of advanced technology in the collection of data, and these precise data are integrated into agriculture, thereby promoting its yield. If precision farming makes use of technology, then hyperspectral and multispectral are one-way drones that help in soil mapping by detecting variation in direct soil types, topography, etc.

With real-time data analysis and detection, the farmer may be more accurate in decision-making in terms of fertiliser application and water supply; this makes room for conservation.

I end this by calling my good friends @ngoenyi @oneray and @karykarthy to participate in this challenge as they learn as well