Colombia and its challenges in agro 4.0 technologies

Date:03-29-2022

By Jessica Aguirre

Technologies influence the development and growth of different economic sectors, promoting a jump to production processes after involving the analysis and interpretation of data, interconnectivity, digitization and monitoring to optimize processes.

And, of course, the agricultural sector is no stranger to this revolution.

Much less so in Colombia, where there are approximately 40 million cultivable hectares, six million are in use, and the rest are still not being used for that purpose. In the country, where there are 2.7 million producers, of which just over 725,000 reside in rural areas, according to figures from the National Agricultural Census. Of this total, more than 83% do not have agricultural machinery, and only 10% receive technical assistance.

For decades, there are many other difficulties that have affected the development of the field and, currently, faced with the new challenges for this sector, one of the most relevant is the modernization of agricultural producers.

Among so many technological tools on the market, drones have become one of the essential goods to meet these objectives in the sector, since among several of their functions, they allow the efficient spraying of crops and the mapping of fields.

Recently, the consulting firm Allied Market Research highlighted that the size of the global market for agricultural drones was valued at approximately US$1 trillion in 2020 and is expected to reach $5.8 trillion in 2030.

This is not by chance, and companies like the one I have led since 2014 (Drone Innovation Lab) have shown how drones promote the drive for technology in the field.

To do this, we develop three lines of business in this sector: the first is the audiovisual supervision of crops or photogrammetry with drones, which is the collection of georeferenced information to identify and map farmland. The second is multispectral photogrammetry, which analyzes the state of crops at a thermal and energetic level through high-precision sensors, helping agronomists to make short-term decisions. And the third is crop spraying and fumigation, where drones are programmed through control points, ensuring that the perimeter is irrigated effectively and optimally.

Each of these lines is important to highlight, as they demonstrate how these unmanned aerial vehicles meet the demands of the 21st century in agriculture. Our results in several projects with Colombian growers is that they have optimized every part of their operations, from field fumigation to crop cycles and health.

Accuracy is essential for the agricultural sector to grow in the country, but for this, it will be essential that the practices carried out are based on evidence and data, which allow us to eliminate guesswork, produce more and reduce waste of resources such as water, fertilizers, pesticides and labor.

Colombia has big challenges to assume the transformation of Agro 4.0, and for this, it requires the work of public and private entities that finance and stimulate these projects.