Drones are heralded as one of the next technological revolutions in agriculture in Kenya.  This is partly due to their speed, efficiency, and cost-effectiveness.

Swift Lab Limited has been providing drone spraying services to farmers across the country to positive effect. A spraying exercise in Madrugada farm, yielded incredible results as show below.

Before

Figure 1: This is an image of weed infestation of the before spraying of a non-selective weed killer.

After

Figure 2: This is an image of the same farm, 2 days later, after the spraying of a non-selective weed killer using a drone.

The farm had previously used tractors and human back pack sprayers for their spraying needs.

Spraying using a drone achieved 100% effectiveness in killing the weeds without any damage to the maize plants, compared to the use of tractors.

Additionally, spraying using the drone was up to 12 times faster than using tractors and up to 50 times faster when using human back sprayers.

Other Drone Spraying Benefits

Drones can operate in any ground terrain conditions, and require minimal personnel compared to ground sprayers, whose movement can be restricted in some instances, for example as seen with COVID-19 health concerns.

They are also more precise, spraying just the right amount of chemicals required. This reduces chemical wastage hence saving costs for the farmer. The optimal release of chemicals also reduces environmental pollution and health risks to humans.

According to a testimony by one of our clients, drone spraying reduces outsplash to other crops neighbouring the crops being sprayed. This also reduces damage to crops that often, inadvertently, get sprayed with the wrong chemicals when using tractors.