Drones are taking to the sky to map out at-risk areas of agricultural land

In Asia and the Pacific, the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) is working with member countries to leverage breakthroughs in information and communication technologies (ICT) to fight hunger, improve nutrition and counter the effects of climate change and extreme weather events that can devastate farmers and their crops. In the Philippines, a country prone to typhoons, aerial drones are taking to the sky to map out at-risk areas of agricultural land to mitigate risk. This innovative practice is also able to quickly assess damages when a disaster strikes.

In the Philippines, natural disasters destroy crops and threaten livelihoods. The Department of Agriculture assesses farmers’ losses to provide them with aid. However, assessing damage manually takes time. Accelerating the process means farmers can get assistance quicker. To assess the damages faster, FAO and the Department of Agriculture have begun using drones. The drones are benefitting everyone. Fixed-wing drones can cover up to 200 hectares in 30 minutes, while a person can cover only 7 hectares per day. The still images are processed and stitched together to form one image. The drones capture both RBG and near-infrared images and these two images can generate the vegetation index, which shows the vegetation health of crops and pest infestation levels. Quadcopters also support near real-time assessments, so experts can make even quicker decisions.

Date: November 2017

Locations: Lubao, Pampanga Province, Philippines

Languages: Natural, Filipino, English

TRT: 5’49”

Access: All

1. Fast edit of drone flying and driving from ground

2. Drone in the sky

3. Pan over agricultural field

4. Farmer picking green beans

5. Farmer and child picking chillies

6. Feeding geese

7. Tending goats

8. SOT Glen Garcia, Farmer (Filipino):

I started out farming by doing vegetable production. / I planted various vegetables and then… two weeks later, typhoon Yolanda hit and destroyed by crops. / I lost hope because it was my first time at farming. / During that season, I lost about 80 percent of my crops and livestock.

9. Various of farmer with officers of Department of Agriculture walking through a field

10. Officers of Agriculture Department at goat’s pen

11. Detail of fruit

12. Officer of Agriculture Department talking with farmer

13. Detail of wings of FAO and Agriculture Dep drone with logos

14. Various of drone operators in the field

15. Drone being launched in the sky

16. Drone and quadcopter flying over fields

17. Fast edit of drone mapping of landscape

18. Still images stitched together to form one image

19. RGB image from drone

20. Near-infrared image from drone

21. Image of vegetation index showing health of crops and pest infestation level

22. Quadcopter over field

23. Drone operator

24. Field seen from quadcopter

25. SOT Arvin Bravo, Information assistant Department of Agriculture, Region 11 (Filipino):

Last year, in February, we assessed an expansive rice field in Carmen, Davao del Norte. / It had been totally submerged by a flood and right away we were able to conduct an aerial coverage assessment. / Once completed, we showed it right away to management and they were quickly able to do interventions. / This is why, right away, farmers were given planting materials so they could recover from their loss. 

03.20 We don’t just use drones for disasters, but also for assessing pest outbreaks... / like the one we conducted in New Bataan Compostela Valley Province. / It was an outbreak of cocolisap in coconuts.

26. Drone shot of damaged crop

27. Drone shot of damaged coconut palms / Various

28. SOT Zaida Manglicmot, Agriculturist, Field Programs Operations Planning Division, Department of Agriculture (Filipino):

I’m excited about using the drones because I can see their many applications / not just in agriculture and assessing damages, but on the crop’s health. / And then it can also be used for planning purposes, because in the post-processing / we can see the digital elevation model, so we can plan the irrigation canals / and how to utilize other available areas. So all this helps the farmers.

29. Detail of drone

30. Operators at computer working on post-processing images / Various

31. Young man handling drone

32. People around a drone model

33. SOT Christopher Morales, Chief Field Programs Operational Planning Division, Department of Agriculture (English):

The plan is to expand it nationwide, improve the number of units to include all other regional field officers, invest in equipment, as well as capacity.

34. Various of drones being launched and flying in the sky

ENDS