31 May 2022

Utilisation of new technologies in farming can help bring better farming yields at Pandamatenga, Unitrans Botswana managing director Mr Thomas Mpedi has made the observation at the demonstration of drone spraying at Pandamatenga Farms on May 26.

He said closing the dire need of services in Pandamatenga would bring efficiency, better yields and better prices for the consumers, noting that technologies such as the usage of drones could grow farming in Botswana. 

Drone Services manager, Mr Thomas Swift said Unitrans has the biggest drone fleet in Africa with a total of 21 spraying drones and 12 survey drones. 

He said the usage of spraying drones in rain fed farming can add value as it was cost effective, reduces drift, reduces over-spraying and ensured that 100 per cent of crops were sprayed.

He explained that spraying drone has a coverage rate of eight hectares per hour, a capacity of 40kg granular or 30 litre of liquid container with adjustable swath and droplet for the Agras T30 drone.

On surveying drones he explained that they could be used for crop health monitoring to accurately scout for pest and disease identification areas in the farm. “While they cannot tell what exactly is wrong with the crops they are able to give precise zone where there is a problem using colour coding,” he said.

Pandamatenga Commercial Farmers Association  chairperson, Mr Ryan Neal in an interview said that the advantages of using a drone for spraying was that the field could be accessed anytime even when wet and therefore more efficient farm management.

The other advantage, he said, the drones were more precise because they used GPS in application of fertilizers or seeds.

As for disadvantages, Mr Neal said since drones were battery operated it does not have much operation time and could not cover lot of hectares compared to tractors.

He observed that drones were more suitable for high value crops urging vegetable farmers to adapt to technology to increase vegetable production in the country especially at a time when the country was working towards self-sufficiency.

 He said there was a need to invest in technology to improve farm production. ends