Article courtesy of www.freshfruitportal.com
F
armers in the Western Cape
are getting a bird’s-eye
view of their fields, thanks
to a new industry buzzing
through the province’s air-
the cost, especially (with) a cost
analysis against a possible increase
in outputs, it makes them more
effective. It completely overrides
the initial cost in investment.”
Legislation to normalize South Africa’s drone operations went into
effect in mid-2015, providing a
framework for the unmanned aircraft industry to get off the ground.
At ZAR26,500 (US$1,762), drone
training doesn’t come cheap. With
the technology at hand, however,
farmers can crunch numbers and
analyze inputs costs as never before.
ways.
Cape Town’s UAV Industries serves
as the only training school in South
Africa located outside the Gauteng
province and spots in their 15-day
program are filling up fast, said
COO Braam Botha.
While the school has attracted professionals from across a number of
industries, including photography
and mining, it has also captured the
attention of farmers from across
southern Africa.
UAV chief flight instructor Greg
Donaldson said drones open up a
world of technological possibilities.
“The applications we can use the
technology for is increasing every
day, so we get more and more interest in training every day as well,”
Donaldson told Eyewitness News.
“We’ve seen interest as far as Namibia and across borders of farmers
wanting to use the technology and
wanting to access data,” Botha told
www.freshfruitportal.com.
“The biggest thing it does come
down to is airmanship. If you’ve got
a very reckless person, that’s obviously not a good thing. So the safety, airmanship and the skills flying is
really what it’s about. The applications are endless. Whatever you can
think of, a drone will be able to do
the work.”
“I think it adds a whole new angle
and yes, even though you always
have farmers who are wary about
For farmers, in addition to providing soils and nutrient analysis
through aerial imaging, drones also
provide the opportunity to view a
year’s worth of farm work from a
new perspective.
“If the farmer has his own drone or
has a consultant that comes by
once a week, he’s got the ability to
build up a very nice library of how
the farm changes and use it for research purposes,” Botha said.
Before South Africa’s drone legislation took effect last July, Botha said
drones had already attracted unofficial and unregulated operators.
While many of these operators
found themselves out of commission under the new legal framework, companies like UAV Industries found the opportunity to establish a safer network to train
would-be pilots.
Training at UAV Industries enables
students to manage air law, navigation and technical principals of
flight, in preparation for licensing
exams.
Beyond the know-how provided by
UAV, students are also given the
option to partner with the company.
South African law restricts those
who can operate commercially,