By Ali Imran
ISLAMABAD: The Ministry of Science and Technology on Tuesday unveiled domestically developed drones to fight the locust attack threatening food security.
“Made in Pakistan drones will revolutionise the country’s agriculture industry”, Minister for Science & Technology Fawad Chaudhry said, sharing the photo of drones on Twitter.
The Ministry of Science and Technology signed an agreement with a private company, ABM-SATUMA, for the production and agriculture application of the drones to deal with the locust crisis. The drones would be handed over to the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA).
Explaining the drone’s mechanism, Chaudhry said that earlier, the entire field had to be disinfected but with the help of the drone, the sensors will detect the infected patches and spray pesticides directly on them.
“The ministry is now focusing on precision farming with the introduction of drone technology to enhance agricultural productivity,” he said, encouraging youngsters to work on agri-tech startups.
Dr Suleiman Ashraf, CEO of Surveillance and Target Unmanned Aircraft (ABM-SATUMA), said the company that has been working with the country’s defense industry for over two decades has decided to develop drones for the agriculture sector to help farmers save crops and achieve efficiency.
