UAE completes pilot phase of mapping agricultural areas using drones

DUBAI: Using drones, the UAE has completed the pilot phase of a research project to map agricultural areas across the country designed to enhance food production despite challenging geographic conditions.

The UAE Ministry of Climate Change and Environment (MOCCAE) said the project is aimed at facilitating future agricultural support services with the scheme providing a wealth of raw data for analysis, such as the number and
size of crop, livestock, and mixed farms as well as cooled and regular greenhouses, soil typeand condition, crop diseases, and irrigation methods.

The Ministry said the initiative will also help  monitor agricultural productivity, including seasonal crops (vegetables and field crops) and year-round crops (fruits) in its ambit, to devise adequate marketing plans for farmers. In addition, areas cultivating feed crops will also be assessed as part of the mapping exercise to help MOCCAE identify the types of feed that need to be imported.

“Through leveraging drones for spatial data collection on farms, we seek to establish an accurate database of actionable statistical information to inform decision making and planning. The scheme will assist us in optimizing the allocation of agricultural resources,” said Dr. Thani bin Ahmed Al Zeyoudi, Minister of Climate Change and
Environment.

Once completed, the project will place the UAE among the top five countries in the world in terms of area surveyed using unmanned aerial vehicles, and the first to employ this technology to map as many as 22 categories of statistical data