• Drones to aid soil health, pest control, and input efficiency
• High costs, skills gap challenge access for smallholder farmers
  

The Kenyan Ministry of Agriculture, through its Agricultural Information Resource Centre, is developing a national roadmap to deploy drone technology across farms nationwide. The initiative is a collaboration with Fahari Aviation, a subsidiary of Kenya Airways established in 2021 to develop drone services, urban air mobility, and aviation training.

The announcement, made in a statement on Wednesday, October 15, indicated the plan aims to address urgent agricultural and livestock challenges, including soil degradation, inefficient input use, pest invasions, and climate risks.

"Drones will provide real-time monitoring of soil health, enabling farmers to apply targeted interventions for improved soil quality," the statement noted. "They will also help ensure efficient use of fertilizers and pesticides, while detecting pest outbreaks early enough to allow for timely response and crop protection."

The concept is already being championed by the private sector. In 2021, DigiFarm, a subsidiary of Safaricom Company, partnered with drone firm Astral to offer crop spraying services in western Kenya. In 2022, Kipkebe Ltd, a subsidiary of the agro-industrial group Sasini PLC, signed an agreement with Fahari Aviation to pilot aerial spraying and fertilization on its tea plantations in the west. That effort aimed to reduce the cost and time of applying inputs by nearly 50%. Other startups, including Dronector, Skyfield Aerotech, Skymap Africa, and Hover Mode, are also developing mapping, crop health monitoring, and precision fertilizer application services in the country.

While the government’s plan to deploy drone technology nationally is intended to ensure all farmers, including smallholders, can benefit, it raises questions about improving accessibility. Beyond the high cost of equipment and related services—such as batteries, software, maintenance, and insurance—other challenges to drone adoption in agriculture include a lack of local training and skills and the existing digital divide in rural areas.

Stéphanas Assocle