Prospects of Improving Agricultural and Water Productivity through Unmanned Aerial Vehicles

Luxon Nhamo, James Magidi, Adolph Nyamugama, Alistair D. Clulow, Mbulisi Sibanda, Vimbayi G. P. Chimonyo and Tafadzwanashe Mabhaudhi
Additional contact information
Luxon Nhamo: Water Research Commission of South Africa, 4 Daventry St, Lynnwood Manor, Pretoria 0081, South Africa
James Magidi: Geomatics Department, Tshwane University of Technology, Staatsartillerie Road, Pretoria 0001, South Africa
Adolph Nyamugama: Agriculture Research Council Institute for Soil, Climate and Water (ARC-ISCW), Pretoria 0001, South Africa
Alistair D. Clulow: Discipline of Agro-meteorology, School of Agricultural, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN), Scottsville, Pietermaritzburg 3209, South Africa
Mbulisi Sibanda: Department of Geography, Environmental Studies and Tourism, University of the Western Cape (UWC), Robert Sobukwe Road, Bellville, Cape Town 7535, South Africa
Vimbayi G. P. Chimonyo: Centre for Transformative Agricultural and Food Systems, School of Agricultural, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN), Scottsville, Pietermaritzburg 3209, South Africa
Tafadzwanashe Mabhaudhi: Centre for Transformative Agricultural and Food Systems, School of Agricultural, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN), Scottsville, Pietermaritzburg 3209, South Africa

Agriculture, 2020, vol. 10, issue 7, 1-18

Abstract: Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) are an alternative to costly and time-consuming traditional methods to improve agricultural water management and crop productivity through the acquisition, processing, and analyses of high-resolution spatial and temporal crop data at field scale. UAVs mounted with multispectral and thermal cameras facilitate the monitoring of crops throughout the crop growing cycle, allowing for timely detection and intervention in case of any anomalies. The use of UAVs in smallholder agriculture is poised to ensure food security at household level and improve agricultural water management in developing countries. This review synthesises the use of UAVs in smallholder agriculture in the smallholder agriculture sector in developing countries. The review highlights the role of UAV derived normalised difference vegetation index (NDVI) in assessing crop health, evapotranspiration, water stress and disaster risk reduction. The focus is to provide more accurate statistics on irrigated areas, crop water requirements and to improve water productivity and crop yield. UAVs facilitate access to agro-meteorological information at field scale and in near real-time, important information for irrigation scheduling and other on-field decision-making. The technology improves smallholder agriculture by facilitating access to information on crop biophysical parameters in near real-time for improved preparedness and operational decision-making. Coupled with accurate meteorological data, the technology allows for precise estimations of crop water requirements and crop evapotranspiration at high spatial resolution. Timely access to crop health information helps inform operational decisions at the farm level, and thus, enhancing rural livelihoods and wellbeing.

Keywords: crop health; drones; irrigation; water productivity; resilience; remote sensing (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q1 Q10 Q11 Q12 Q13 Q14 Q15 Q16 Q17 Q18 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (8)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2077-0472/10/7/256/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2077-0472/10/7/256/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jagris:v:10:y:2020:i:7:p:256-:d:379191

Access Statistics for this article

Agriculture is currently edited by Ms. Leda Xuan

More articles in Agriculture from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().