By Maureen Nakatudde
Food will always be a constant in people’s lives. As the world’s population is soaring, more and more, people are demanding for food.
James Tumusiime, the Group managing director of Fountain publishers, says agriculture is one business you cannot do without.
However, Ken Stober, the group managing director at Simplifi Networks is of the view that people who embrace technology will reap more from it.
“People who are using drones to picture crops, they are the ones that will profit from agriculture,” he says. “But those who will neglect the technology bit might struggle in making money.”
When the rainy season tarries, a person can use artificial irrigation to water their crops.
However, Stober is of the view that if the photos have been taken of a crop, then the farmer can exactly know which crop needs water or fertilisers and target that instead of servicing the entire farm.
“In our office, for instance, we have been testing LoRa WAN technology: this can monitor your farm crops for temperature, sun, water in the soil, weather, and chemicals in the soil such as NPK (Nitrogen, Phosphorus, and Potassium),” Stober says.
“The technology can even turn on your water system if the soils are dry, thus causing massive increases in crop yields.”
Tumusiime reveals that the crops one can grow to get more money include maize, beans, matooke, cassava, rice and millet.