A wonder drone will next month be available to Rwandan farmers and is expected to shift perceptions on farming but making it more fun and high-tech.
Toyota Motor Corporation has unveiled its plans to provide this high-tech innovation to simplify agriculture.
“It is expensive technology but top notch technology. A farmer can spray, collect flowers from field to packaging room and the farmer can also spray his crops against any pests but using this drone,” Takayuki Kusajima told Taarifa at a Japan booth on the sidelines of the Transform Africa Summit.
The farmer can just walk around the field with a remote controller to navigate the drone to any part of the crop field. “In a day the drone can cover between 60-80 acres of the field cover,” Takayuki said.
According to Takayuki, before the advent of this drone, farmers in Japan used to cover 0.65 acres of the field but this drone is fast and very efficient. “The drone can be used to effectively deliver produce from farm to the storage facility.”
Takayuki told Taarifa that he came to the summit through Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) – the summit whose theme is “Boosting Africa’s Digital Economy”.
A lot startups have been showcased at the summit exhibition while new ones have been presented looking to court funding and support of different forms- some are inclined on providing solutions to the challenges in the agriculture sector on the continent.
This drone could be very instrumental in the floriculture business which is also rapidly growing in Rwanda.
Rwanda is currently generating over $104million from floriculture and horticulture sector because the number of investors in these sectors has been steadily rising.
In 2016, the government of Rwanda and Japanese companies met and discussed on how to improve techniques used in agriculture and logistics.
According to Takayuki, it is necessary that Japanese companies invest heavily in Rwanda’s Agriculture sector and consume this technology and eventually attract Rwandan investors into the same business and using these unmanned aerial vehicles.
For example Musanze District hosts Bloom Hills a Japanese firm which has developed green houses for flower growing.
Japan is also experimenting with their futuristic technologies using specific flowers from Japan to Rwanda, especially those with high prices on the international market.
