Soybean is one of the most important cash crops in Africa. However, local farmers have long been suffered from yield losses due to seasonal soybean diseases. In recent years, agricultural drones from XAG are becoming their new option in solving this issue.
From November to April, the wet season arrives in Africa and brings a lot of precipitation to most places of the continent. The six months long-lasting rainy spells provide the best time for local soybean farmers to start seedling but also leave along with potential threats to the crops.
According to field observations from the University of Zimbabwe, abundant rainfall and high humidity promote disease development. In Zambia, diseases like soybean rust, red leaf blotch caused by fungus significantly increase during the rainy season and make soybean crops abnormally defoliate. Due to climate change, such conditions have been frequently spotted by the starting of long rainy summer and became the main reasons for local soybean yield reduction.
Since 2019, XAG has worked closely with our global partners Sunagri Zambia to introduce agricultural drones for pest and disease control in Africa. This April, XAG drones were deployed to spray fungicide on soybean crops that are susceptible to foliar diseases. Their high agility, precision, and efficiency have been helping farmers better manage their field with lower cost and less labor.
Drone applications have also created decent occupations to attract more local youth to stay in their hometown as drone pilots, to rescue their villages from dire poverty while improving their own livelihood.
Reference: https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/8SubATLHjN4xZKYH-7vWLg
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