Farmers Review Africa May/June 2017 Farmers Review Africa | Page 31

Products & Services
highlight certain issues in the plant's health,
and show w here t here are moisture
de ciencies.
at way, the farmer can be sure to get
unbiased imagery, maps and insight, and
knows where to take relevant steps to ensure
the success of the crop.
But it doesn't stop there.
Our satellite product allows the farmer to get
this insight on a 10-meter resolution (or 100
sample points per hectare) every ten days
(clouds permitting), directly to his inbox, and
includes a person helping them make sense of
it the rst time.
Our drone products take it a step further.
With the drone we can drill down to between
a 2 and ten centimeter resolution (meaning up
to 25 million sample points per hectare). us
we can measure and track every plant
individually, allowing speci c care to be given
to individual, high value crops such as trees,
tree-fruits and nuts.
With the drones we not only measure the
plant health and moisture, but also measure
the plant height, the 3-D lay of the land
(contours, elevation and aspect), exact eld
sizes and can draw highly accurate leaf-level
statistics to monitor each and ever y
individual plant across the season.
But, what are the bene ts?
Not only can the farmer keep track of the
health of his crop, but being able to see where
the crop is under stress, and understanding
what gives rise to such strain allows him to:
·
Monitor his irrigation for blocked
pipes and mis-calibrations
·
Find areas where pests and/or
disease occur, and treat only the
relevant areas with precision
·
Save water through precision
irrigation and maintenance
·
Save pesticide and herbicide
through targeted application
·
Protect the har vest through
targeted scouting and management
practices, to hit back at crop
problems before they become BIG
problems
·
Increase yield by optimising his
eld selection, resource allocation
and speci c monitoring
·
Increase the quality of his yield,
which opens up greater export and
value markets.
·
Save time by highlighting areas to
be visited and improved
·
Monitor activity and improvement
across his farming portfolio
·
Provide unbiased proof of action
and crop cover should a disaster
event occur
During full scienti c, A-B tests, we have
measured as much as a 29% yield increase on
citrus, with a 33% water use reduction.
Although this is an outlier, we regularly
observe increases of between 4% and 10% on
crops as diverse as wheat, maize, citrus,
Footprint and channel
By working both directly with farmers, and
through their agri-agents, we have been able to
grow our presence across sub-Saharan Africa,
with requests for imagery coming from as far
a eld as the Democratic Republic of the Congo
(DRC), Tanzania, Kenya, Mozambique,
Nigeria and Zambia. Anybody can draw
his/her farm on our online portal, no matter
where you are in the world. It even allows you
to do so on your mobile!
As the satellites are in constant orbit around
the world, and we have pilot-partnerships with
drone pilots throughout Africa and further
Spot some very bad problems now.
See how red-edge can make
scouting easier!
A citrus orchard to the
naked eye no problems
here, right
www.farmersreviewafrica.com
canola and feed-crop. Not only have we
measured this across multiple crop types, but
also in multiple climatic areas, from foggy,
rainy highlands to arid, drought-stricken
plains.
Large agricultural clients trust us too
We have been the proud trusted suppliers of
highly scienti c crop measurements and data
to both Bayer (Pty) Ltd, and Monsanto, on
various crop trials across South Africa. We
provide statistical analysis and scienti cally
calibrated veracity, and acted as independent
veri er of increased effect of Bayer's Aviator
product (see case study).
DroneClouds was also the winner of the South
African National Space Agency (SANSA) and
Airbus Defense and Space (ADS) challenge,
which allowed the team to visit Airbus in
Toulouse, France, and work hand-in-hand
with them to create an African solution.
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FARMERS
REVIEW AFRICA
May - June 2017