Agricultural Drones
UAE’S ADOPTION OF DRONES IN AGRICULTURE
T
AGRICULTURE DRONES MARKET ESTIMATED TO REACH AED30 BILLION BY 2026
he UAE’s adoption of drones in agriculture has made it one of the firsts in the world to integrate technology in food security and environmental protection, according to Falcon Eye Drones Services (FEDS), the Middle East’s leading and one of the world’s top Drone-As-A-Service (DaaS) companies. FEDS’ statement comes on the heels of the announcement of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, that the UAE is amongst the first in the region to prioritise environmental protection and climate change as part of its food sustainability programme on a national scale. Earlier, His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces, also stressed the value of utilising agricultural technology approach—also known as AgTech—to enhance homegrown food production. Underscoring how the UAE has been a pioneer in the region for massive droneplanting initiatives, FEDS CEO Rabih Bou Rashid emphasised how drones are revolutionising the agricultural sector in response to rapidly evolving needs of our time and how technology-driven projects in the country have proven that
32 Gulf Agriculture | www.gulfagriculture.com
drones are a more costeffective and faster alternative to traditional farming methods being practised for millennia. In partnership with the Ministry of Climate Change and Environment, FEDS had undertaken a massive drone seeding initiative in 2019 that saw the planting of 250,000 Ghaf seeds and 6 million Samar seeds in 150 square kilometres of land in a few days—a process that used to take decades to complete through traditional farming methods. This feat has made the UAE one of the very first countries in the world to conduct a drone-planting project on such an expansive scale. “With the changing calls of our time, such as the repercussions of COVID-19 ringing in amongst nations to produce more of what they eat, countries see the need to explore newer solutions to boost their agricultural sector. If we look at the future of farming in the UAE, drone systems would be as common as tractors, unleashing the benefits of precision agriculture to ramp up farming,” Bou Rashid said. He added that drones’ ability to conduct seeding, land surveying initiatives will propel the UAE’s goal of environmental protection and National Food Security Strategy 2051.
Rabih Bou Rashid; CEO of FEDS
Food security has always been a key focus of the UAE. The country ranks 21st globally in the latest Global Food Security Index 2019 report, achieving a 10-place leap from 2018, and besting other nations in the West and in the Middle East. With the existence of drones in examining vast array of farmlands in a matter of days, farmers can boost mobilisation in agriculture in a much shorter span of time, thereby increasing local food production at a stauncher pace, according to Bou Rashid. “From capturing aerial imagery to assess plant health, weeds and assets, to determining the optimum
September-October 2020
