By embodying components like scientific research, proof of concept initiatives, capacity building, support to investment, enterprise development, networking, experience capitalisation & communication, this project has started transforming African agriculture into a high-tech industry, with decisions being based on real-time gathering and processing of data, productivity & yields
The establishment of 30 rapidly expanding, youth-led enterprises offering drone-based services for agriculture in 17 African countries, represents a significant development for the continent & a milestone for the building of the African Information Society. Started at the end of 2016, this project caught the attention of young entrepreneurs who were selected via a competitive processes, trained, & technically & financially supported in offering drone-based services to farmers’ organisations, agribusinesses, government & international dev agencies & other interested parties. A recent survey confirmed that the enterprises have been recruiting staff, investing in new equipment and increasing their business portfolio. A consortium is being formed to enable individual enterprises to group and be more competitive on the national and continental markets. Considering the fact that in 2017 drones were a new tech for Africa, the project played an important role in creating an enabling environment. It supported the African Union’s appointed High Level African Panel on Emerging Techs in selecting “drones for precision agriculture” as one of the most promising technologies which would foster Africa’s development. In Jan 2018 the AU Executive Council recommended that all Member States harness the opportunities offered by drones for agriculture. A full report entitled “Drones on the horizon: Transforming Africa’s Agriculture” was launched at the Africa Innovation Summit in Kigali (6/6/18). Project implementers co-authored the report & have been advising national civil aviation authorities in developing regulations for the responsible use of drones.

https://goo.gl/ZXxSsc

• Angola
• Benin
• Burkina Faso
• Cameroon
• Democratic Republic of the Congo
• Ghana
• Côte d'Ivoire
• Jamaica
• Kenya
• Malawi
• Morocco
• Nigeria
• Rwanda
• Senegal
• Uganda
• United Republic of Tanzania
• Zambia

Based on studies conducted, the main bottleneck for the replication of this initiative is related to the national regulations governing the use of drone technology. Only 30% of African countries have regulations in place. Some of these are enabling (eg Ghana) others are disabling (eg South Africa). Some countries have no regulations (eg Uganda) and drones are confiscated. Said that, Decision EX CL/Dec 986-1007 (XXXII) issued by the AU Executive Council on 26/1/18, recommending all Member States to harness the opportunities offered by drones for precision agriculture has stimulated governments to develop and enact adequate legislation. Like for all innovative technologies, scaling up & sustainability are key challenges. Said that, on the African continent, competition for licensed drone operators is nil. As per the latest statistics, South Africa (the 1st Agrican country continent which passed regulations in 2015) is the one accounting for highest number of licensed commercial drone operators: less than 30. The UK in comparison has close to 5000. Rwanda has one licensed operator, Ghana a handful, etc. Hence, provided regulations are in place, & additional training facilities are established (at present drone pilot schools are found only in South Africa & Benin, the latter being run by one of the project beneficiaries) the industry can flourish. Lessons learned via enterprises being part of this project, indicate that diversification of services is key for business success . Evidence of replicability comes from within the project, as beneficiaries are starting to open up business in other countries (e.g. Cote d’Ivoire and Niger), or more simply executing contracts beyond their respective national boundaries. Traction for drone based services is increasing exponentially, especially by development agencies & large agribusinesses. Evidence is provided by vacancies for specialists in drone operations recently posted by the AfDB, WFP, UNICEF and regular webinars on the topic organised by FAO and similar agencies.

The project has been successful so far in supporting the introduction, establishment and flourishing of a drone-based service industry in 17 African countries. Based on regular monitoring and more specifically a survey carried out in November 2018, most enterprises have been recruiting additional staff (i.e. youth employment); buying new and more advanced equipment and analytical software (using their own financial resources !) and substantially increasing their yearly turnover. Significant is also the fact that project beneficiaries have been teaming up to carry out assignments which needed complementary skills or equipment and / or partnered with specialised firms offering complementary skills and know-how. Success is measured in both financial as well as reputation terms. Enterprises recruiting staff or opening branch offices in other countries are definitely doing well. Talented entrepreneurs like Charis UAS in Rwanda are regularly invited to share their experience at high level international conferences, and CTA has been and is supporting its partner organisation sin this endeavours. Indeed, success depend a lot on how effective is management in running the company and market its services, and here one can spot differences.

This project exemplifies how talented and educated African youth can build on innovative and disruptive technologies to launch start-up enterprises which can serve propelling Africa into the digital age and serve decision-makers at various levels with current, high resolution, location specific and actionable remote-sensed information. Benefiting from an enabling environment created by a Decision (to which this project has contributed) passed in January 2018 by the Executive Council of the African Union, an increasing number of African countries are now passing legislation governing the use of drones. Using diverse channels including social media (@uav4ag has 42K followers on Twitter and 151K on Facebook), and in publishing in both English and French a number of technical and opinion papers, articles and blogposts on success stories, challenges posed by restrictive regulations, cost effectiveness of the technology and a report on public perception of drone technology in Africa, the project has raised global awareness on drone technology for agriculture in Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific which are the target regions of CTA. Capacity building has been at the core of this project and staff from each of the participating enterprises has been trained in a range of disciplines including enterprise management, marketing, communication, drone piloting, drone regulations and ethical use of the technology, remote sensed data acquisition and processing. Some financial support has been provided on a cost-sharing basis to assist the operators in acquiring needed equipment and software. On a global scale the project contributed to populating a global database on drone regulations www.droneregulations.info using the results of a scan of 79 ACP (Africa, Caribbean and Pacific) Group of States in 2016. This Wikipedia-like database is regularly updated by volunteers and members of the network.