Nigeria's flying farmer: Drone tech sows seeds of Africa's farm revolution

By Abdulwasiu Hassan

The farmer has to be an optimist, or he wouldn't still be a farmer. Will Rogers, the American actor and humorist, was probably not too wide off the mark when he wryly spoke thus of the struggles of farming in his time.

For long after Rogers died in 1935, and even today in some parts of the world, farming remains an endeavour that entails toiling with traditional tools in the fields for hours and praying that the elements would be kind.

Samson Ogbole, a Nigerian farmer whose success in soilless farming has made him a well-known name, believes there has never been a better time to be optimistic about farming, never mind the challenges of climate change.

"Spraying insecticides and fungicides can be a real chore. Imagine 400 acres of oil palm! The drone can do that for you...That's not the good news, though!" says a recent post by the young farmer on his X handle.

"Good news: Precision spraying. The drone automatically sprays only where it senses the oil palm. You can also have your tree crops sprayed, no stress."

The spraying technology at work comes from Integrated Aerial Precision, a firm pioneering what it calls "a revolutionary approach to agriculture that's transforming the landscape of farming in Nigeria and Africa".

A video accompanying Ogbole's post shows a group of people filling a small tank attached to a drone with liquid, after which the unmanned aerial vehicle is seen flying over the field and spraying the oil palm trees with insecticide and fungicide.

Although Ogbole's domain is farming in a controlled environment without soil, he admittedly felt the video was a remarkable example of what agriculture could be on the continent, particularly Sub-Saharan Africa

Break from the past

When people think of agriculture in Sub-Saharan Africa, the first thought is of subsistence farmers equipped with nothing more than a hoe and cutlass to till the land.

Thankfully, the story is changing as young people with vision bring digital technology to farming. Femi Adekoya, the founder and managing director of Integrated Aerial Precision, is one of them.

"We provide farmers with precision agriculture technology solutions. Leveraging drone technology and data analytics, we help farmers to farm smarter and reap profits," he tells TRT Afrika.

"The solution in itself is not unique, but how we disseminate this knowledge is different. Spraying a hectare of rice crop would typically require two men to spend an entire day doing the work, while a drone can accomplish the same in 10 minutes."

Farmers would also save 90% of the water they usually use for manual spraying. Apart from targeted spraying, a "flying farmer" can use drones for agricultural asset inspection, among other tasks.

Expanding clientele

Most of Adekoya's clients are currently large and medium-scale commercial farmers who can take advantage of the scale offered by technology to enhance profitability.

"Our mission is to support scale because that works in business. But we are also looking for clusters of small-scale farmers with the right business mindset," he tells TRT Afrika.

One of the challenges of extending the reach of technology is rural infrastructure, illustrated by a video on Adekoya's X handle. It shows him clutching a large bag and riding a motorcycle through an untarred road leading to a farm.

"Imagine spending over five hours on a bike on a dusty, bumpy road that goes to a village in Oyo State. And that's after travelling by car to the main town from Lagos. I often don't share the back end of my story, but this is a glimpse," he writes in the caption.

Despite these challenges, Adekoya is still pursuing his vision of taking drone technology in agriculture to the remotest corners of Nigeria and beyond. Training and scaling

Precision Field Academy, set up by Adekoya and his team, is already training young people to use drone technology for agriculture.

"This initiative is meant to raise the next generation of technical and digital-savvy farmers. We recognise that what we are doing in the agricultural industry is nascent, albeit revolutionary," he explains.

"We need to build capacity, and Precision Field Academy is the vehicle for this transition."

As with all new technologies that cause a churn, some people see drones posing a danger to the livelihood of farm hands.

"They don't realise that learning to use drones for spraying will help them land jobs that pay more. Also, in some areas with a scarcity of farm hands, drones are a boon beyond the efficiency of use and scale," Adekoya tells TRT Afrika.