Ghana to leverage drone technology for farming activities

Technology is in every aspect of our lives now, even in agriculture. The agricultural sector is getting digitised and it turns out to have good results. This is pushing Ghana to also adopt drone technology to help in the numerous farming activities here.

Currently, some farms are using Amdrone Tech drones for crop diagnostics and precision farm spraying.
The Amdrone Tech drones come in 15 and 25 litres. They have the capacity of spraying two hectares in 30 minutes and 100 acres in a day.

Uses of the drones include aerial spraying of pesticides, crop pest and plant nutrition management, agro-input services, among others.

Bernard Essel, the Managing Director of Ziongate Geospatial & Research Services Limited, revealed where drone for farming is mostly used. He said the drones have been used in the Central and Ashanti Regions for mapping of maize farms.

Essel also stressed that the drones had 99 percent accuracy. To him, the one effective way to bring the youth into the agricultural sector going forward is to digitise it. He advised that to make farming attractive to the youth, there must be a lot of technology inculcation, for instance, the use of drones.

Alliance for Green Revolution Forum 2019 is a programme that seeks to find ways to grow the agricultural sector and fix its related problems. Ghana is going to host this year’s forum in September and as part of the preparations, the Government of Ghana through the Ministry of Food and Agriculture is taking journalists on field trips to see how technology in farming is going on.

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The trip destinations included Bomarts Farm at Ga South Municipality, Greater Region, and the Kosmos Innovation Centre Fields, Kasoa, Central Region,

During the trips, the Head of Communications Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation, Tobu Johnson, revealed that the application of the drones would help increase income and productivity of farmers.

Johnson believes “digital technology are real entry points for youth and entrepreneurs.”

The Ministry of Food and Agriculture is making efforts to promote quality agricultural practices and spark a green revolution in Ghana. As parts of the efforts, the Ministry is working to train university students in coding and greenhouse technologies.