Last week FutureWater, together with its partner HiView, gave 2 days of lectures at IHE Delft Institute for Water Education, which partners with UNESCO. As part of their master degree, around 25 students were taught on the theory behind flying sensors (also known as drones), the different types of applications and how to use them… Read More »FutureWater and HiView give lectures on the use of flying sensors
In a bid to create and increase more awareness on the use of flying sensors (drones) in agriculture, FutureWater and HiView, held a seminar on March 2, 2018 at the KALRO (Kenya Agricultural & Livestock Research Organization) Headquarters in Nairobi, Kenya. The seminar was attended by KALRO researchers, representatives of SNV, government employees, as well… Read More »Seminar on the use of flying sensors in agriculture held in Kenya
In the Netherlands, drones already play an important role in agriculture: from the air they can monitor the growth of crops very precisely. Here high-quality sensors and relatively expensive drones are used. Thanks to these sensors and special software the needs of the crops (e.g. water, fertilizer or plant protection products) can be calculated. “A… Read More »ThirdEye makes drone technology accessible for African farmers
The ThirdEye project supports farmers in Kenya by setting up a network of flying sensors operators. These operators are equipped with flying sensors and tools to analyse the obtained imagery. In December ThirdEye staff conducted an intensive two weeks flying sensor training at Agricultural Training Centre (ATC) Kaguru, 15 km south of Meru, Kenya. The… Read More »First ThirdEye flying sensor operators trained in Kenya
Recently, FutureWater conducted a study for RVO to test the feasibility of mapping water productivity and yield gaps based on a combination of Flying Sensor imagery and crop water productivity modeling in order to provide plot-level recommendations to farmers. The objective of this pilot study was to achieve plot-level maps of water productivity and yield… Read More »Study conducted on water productivity mapping using flying sensors and crop modeling
Water Productivity, expressed as the amount of crop yield over the amount of water consumed (kg/m3), has been accepted as the standard to monitor sustainable water management. FutureWater has evaluated various methods, including satellites and Flying Sensors (drones) to monitor Water Productivity for a demonstration project ThirdEye in southern Mozambique. Monitoring Water Productivity is set… Read More »FutureWater releases new study on monitoring Water Productivity
Increasing world population, rising food demand, limited water resources. Currently 70% of the fresh water uptakes are already used for irrigation. The need for efficient water use in agriculture is undisputed! The United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goal 6.4 is set at the improvement of efficient use in order to reduce water scarcity and maintain food… Read More »MSc thesis research on efficient use of water in agriculture: visiting Xai-Xai, Mozambique
To follow up a good practical example of a our Masterclass on Water Productivity, our colleague Nadja den Besten went on a mission to Quelimane in Mozambique. FutureWater was invited to assess project APROVALE, Água Produtiva no Vale do Zambeze, in the Zambezi Valley. The project is led by Agencia de Desenvolvimento do Vale do Zambeze (ADVZ),… Read More »Field visit on monitoring water productivity in Quelimane, Mozambique
Text adopted from Dutchwatersector.com Research group A4Lab deployed a drone of FutureWater’s Mozambican ThirdEye project, to assess the water availability in the dry river beds of the Limpopo river, near the city of Chókwè in Moazambique. The exploration is to deliver more data on the amounts of water in the sandy river beds throughout the dry… Read More »A4Lab deploys FutureWater’s drone technique to explore water potential of dry river beds in Mozambique
SWFF Innovators FutureWater was featured in USAID’s recently published Safeguarding the World’s Water: Report of Water Sector Activities, which details the Agency’s investments and efforts in WASH and nutrition, agricultural water management, sustainability of WASH services; sanitation; and water quality. This report describes a wide range of programs consistent with USAID’s Water and Development strategy’s focus on maintaining… Read More »ThirdEye featured in USAID Water Report
From August 29 to September 4 the International Trade Fair FACIM took place in Maputo, Mozambique. On this fair the Dutch Embassy organized a Holland pavilion where several Dutch organisations presented themselves to the Mozambican market. On Wednesday August 31 this pavilion was market by the FACIM WATER EVENT ‘The adaptation of innovative technologies in the Mozambican… Read More »Innovative technology for the water sector
How to be a commercial business, and at the same time reach out to the rural poor and enable them to increase their food production and improve their livelihoods? The key ingredient for success is getting the right business model! Agricultural Business Developer Jelle van den Akker investigated the transition of the ThirdEye project from a… Read More »Identifying and designing business models
A key factor in enabling an increase and efficiency in food production is providing farmers with relevant information. Such information is needed as farmers have limited resources (seed, water, fertilizer, pesticides, human power) and are always in doubt in which location and when they should supply these resources. Interesting is that especially smallholders, with their… Read More »Training new Flying Sensor operators
The Third Eye project has been operational now for a few months in the regadios, irrigation schemes of Chokwe (HICEP) and Xai Xai (RBL). During the past weeks our field officer, Jan van Til, was in Mozambique to monitor the project progress and to acquire new partnership and collaborations. Jan visited 4 flying sensor operators… Read More »Expanding the Third Eye project
The past months HiView continued working on the USAID project in Mozambique. The project -called ThirdEye- aims at supplying smallholder farmers with information concerning drought and crop stress derived from our Flying Sensors. For this reason, several Mozambican operators in the irrigation regions of Xai Xai and Chokwe were trained to operate the Flying Sensors.… Read More »New images from Xai Xai
HiView has continued the work on ThirdEye by training Mozambican operators in the irrigation regions of Xai Xai and Chokwe. The trainings contain operational flights with the Flying Sensors and analysis of the NIR images. Finally the operators are instructed to convey tailored information to the farmers and farmer organizations.
“Sensy” kits that hold the required tools for successful flight operation have been put together. They contain a Flying Sensor, accessories, spare parts, manuals, mini laptop, camera and more. The Flying Sensor that has been chosen for the job is a modified DJI Phantom. Its camera has been replaced by a custom near-infrared camera that… Read More »Flight operator kits made