New Publication : FAO-ITU E-agriculture in Action: Drones for Agriculture

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), and the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) have published a new book E-Agriculture in Action: Drones for Agriculture.

Details about this publication

• Title: E-agriculture in Action: Drones for Agriculture
•  Publisher: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and the International Telecommunication Union
•  Card page: http://www.fao.org/documents/card/en/c/I8494EN
•  PDF URL: http://www.fao.org/3/I8494EN/i8494en.pdf 

This publication comes amidst the increase in the use of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) [also known as drones] in agriculture – which was predicted to be the second largest user of drones in the world in the next 5 years.

Chapters in this publication were contributed by various actors within agriculture. Drones continue to be used in various aspect within agriculture – such as cropping, early warning systems, monitoring plants, pests control, animal tracking, forest and environmental monitoring, for example.

Drones have been used by FAO for example in the Republic of the Philippines under the FAO’s disaster risk reduction and management (DRRM) and climate change adaptation (CCA) strategies. In the Republic of the Union of Myanmar, FAO is working with the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Irrigation (MOALI) to utilize modern geospatial technology to enhance disaster preparedness.

One of the challenges in most developing countries is the absence of necessary laws and policy framework to regulate the use of drones. This publication mentions (p.6) the global drone regulations database (Global Drone Regulations Database, no date), which has been developed as a multiagency effort provides more in-depth information on drone regulations.

Case Studies on the use of drones in Agriculture

The publication then appends the following case studies:-

• Unmanned aerial systems (UAS) in agriculture: regulations and good practices
• Drone technology as a tool for improving agricultural productivity
• Mapping and monitoring rice areas using remote sensing, crop modelling and information and communication technology (ICT)
• Actionable intelligence from drones to the agricultural industry
• Drones-based sensor platforms
• Use of unmanned helicopters for agriculture
• Space technology use in crop insurance
• Institutionalizing drone mapping applications for disaster risk management in agriculture
• Drones for community monitoring of forests
• Internet of things application in agriculture and use of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs)

The E-Agriculture in Action Series

This publication is the second in the series titled E-agriculture in action (2016), launched by FAO and ITU, and builds on the previous FAO publications that highlight the

• use of ICT for agriculture such as Mobile technologies for agriculture and rural development (2012),
• Information and communication technologies for agriculture and rural development (2013) and
• Success stories on information and communication technologies for agriculture and rural development (2015).

More information here