Drones to help assess crop losses

Bangladesh is preparing to introduce drones to detect crop damage caused by extreme weather events or diseases, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) said in a press release yesterday.

Around 20 officers of the Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE) are initially receiving training to learn how to use the state-of-the-art technologies, it added.

Malay Choudhury, additional agriculture secretary, and Edimon Ginting, ADB country director for Bangladesh, inaugurated a workshop, titled "The use of drone and satellite image for crop monitoring and crop damage assessment", at the Hotel InterContinental in Dhaka yesterday to initiate a seven-day training programme.

The DAE and ADB jointly designed the training programme to be conducted from April 17 to 25.

Renowned geospatial experts from the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics will conduct the training.

The trainees will receive four days of classroom training on geographical information systems and remote sensing analysis for crop damage detection and participate in a three-day field trip to Sylhet to learn how to collect ground data using mobile devices.

"Proper assessment of crop diseases and losses are critical to take appropriate measures to ensure agricultural productivity and food security in the context of growing threats of climate change in Bangladesh," said ADB Country Director Ginting.

"The ADB will continue to bring in innovative solutions, including advanced technologies, to help Bangladesh tackle climate impacts," he added.

"With advanced geospatial technology, our officers will be able to assess crop damage and provide effective government programs to mitigate the expected damage caused by climate change in the future," said Badal Chandra Biswas, director general of the DAE.