Agriculture de précision

en Afrique

The African agricultural sector faces many challenges including the worldwide phenomenon of global warming which negatively impacts weather patterns, leading to the depletion of soil nutrients and deterioration of usable land in many parts of the continent. Covering over 30 million square kilometres, Africa accounts for around 20% of the earth’s land, with terrains that encompass deserts, savanna plains and tropical rainforest. Agriculture on the world’s second largest and hottest continent also presents particular challenges with farms often spanning thousands of hectares and farmers experiencing frequent issues with parasites and fungi.

These large-scale exporters must also comply with ever-more stringent regulation of pesticides. In order to remain competitive in the world market, they therefore require specialized solutions that increase productivity whilst reducing costs. Within the context of these challenges, sustainable farming practices are understandably gaining traction, demanding the use of digital technology to address productivity and yields.

Precision farming, also known as precision agriculture or satellite agriculture, is fast developing to revolutionize the African agrarian industry.  This advanced approach to farm management uses information technology with specialized equipment and software to improve sustainability and profitability of agricultural operations, while protecting the environment. 

Focusing on optimizing the use of land, resources, machinery and crop yields, precision farming uses specific, real-time data about crop conditions, soil quality, ambient air, local weather predictions, labour costs and equipment available to rapidly disrupt and enhance conventional farming methods.

Predictive analytics software combined with satellite or robotic drone images of agricultural fields and individual plants, allows for precisive, proactive and site-specific planning for crop rotation, planting and harvesting times, and soil management. Growers can use the data to match resource requirements for optimized application, ensuring the best soil and crop health. It is this precision in analysis and response that reduces the wastage of resources, improves profitability and sustainability and assists in controlling the environmental impact of farming operations.

How Bureau Veritas support you?

To support agriculture clients in the African region, the global testing, inspection and certification giant, Bureau Veritas, has developed precision farming solutions based on crop inspection by drone and satellite technology. Drone services, which provide precision farming inspection services by consolidating ground data such as analyses of soil, leaves and roots, with aerial drone data. These solutions also make it possible to remotely control fertilization and irrigation operations and add value to all types of plantations from rubber, palm oil, sugar cane and banana tree, to cocoa. 

Bureau Veritas’ expertise in production mapping & benchmarking by satellite or drone means that crops and farms can be monitored, sometimes over years, for such information as number of trees, strength and homogeneity of plant development, areas of vegetation stress, chlorophyll content, general health conditions, fertilization and irrigation. The company also has developed a simple, cost-effective and scalable precision farming called myPRECIfield®, a tool which uses satellite technology to monitor the plant health of crops in real time from a computer or tablet, without having to travel. Some of the advantages of the revolutionary myPRECIfield® tool include: detecting plant diseases and pest emergence, evaluation of plant density, visualizes water stress and achieving return on the last 24 months of plots.