The African Development Bank (AfDB) will host a completion workshop on October 30, 2019, in Tunis to share lessons learned from the pilot project of using drones to improve the agricultural productivity in the Sidi Bouzid region of central Tunisia, AfDB reports.
The model involves the use of drones to collect and analyze data and monitor irrigated areas, as well as combat pests. It was launched by the Bank, jointly with the Tunisian Ministry of Agriculture, Water Resources and Fisheries, and the Busan Metropolitan City in Korea to boost agriculture production.
More than 100 participants from the public and private sectors will attend the workshop, which will cover lessons learned on the use of drones in the preparation, supervision, and evaluation of agricultural schemes. It will also highlight good practices to scale in other African countries, the same source said.
The Bank will present its High Five priorities and other interventions designed to modernize agriculture in Africa. There will also be sessions on the transfer of drone technology and its use in other sectors such as transport and urban development.
The drone technology has provided key information on how to optimize the use of irrigation systems and fertilizers, detect early diseases that affect agricultural production, and to improve decision-making, the AfDB explained.
The workshop will also include debate on business opportunities for young African start-ups and entrepreneurs who, in turn, will share their experiences. There will be an exhibition to highlight data collection and its use in the Sidi Bouzid area.
Forty Tunisian drone pilots have been trained, including four of them as trainers. The team of Tunisian experts who contributed to the deployment of the operation also benefited from training and technology transfers in data collection by drones and their analysis through dedicated computer applications.
The partnership between the African Development Bank and Tunisia also spans other sectors such as energy, water, transport, agriculture, social development, and information and communications technology.
TunisianMonitorOnline
