From the Field The Big Picture: Can drones improve farmer livelihoods in Sri Lanka?

There’s a reason why aerial shots are so captivating: they reveal a perspective we aren’t used to, and that we most likely can’t experience ourselves. They can also evoke a feeling of awe, when we see the size of humans in comparison to majestic landscapes!

Like several other aerial videos, the one above was captured using a drone (also known as an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle or UAV). Drones are incredibly versatile and can capture footage from various angles and altitudes. Their technology has advanced greatly in the past two decades, enabling them to support crop management and early warning systems, as well as wildlife and forestry conservation. 

Mounting pressure in the cascade landscape 

Sri Lanka's unique cascade landscapes consist of ancient networks of interconnected water tanks, as well as the surrounding villages, forests and farmland that depend on these water sources. For generations, a large part of the communities living in these cascade landscapes have depended on farming for their livelihood. As a result, the community has a rich history of traditional knowledge and agricultural practices that have enhanced crop productivity and guided agricultural development in the landscape. 

However, today’s cascade landscape farmers face mounting pressures such as the rising cost of living and increasingly unpredictable and extreme weather patterns due to climate change. In the hopes of expanding and intensifying their crop production, many of them have shifted away from traditional agriculture towards mainstream practices. Unfortunately, over the past few decades, the overuse of chemical fertilizers and pesticides has greatly degraded the landscape’s soil and polluted tank water. 

Traditional knowledge, much like modern technology, is an evolving knowledge base with information and observations continuously being added. However, in recent decades the world has changed so rapidly and unpredictably that the evolution of indigenous traditional knowledge systems cannot keep up. Additionally, traditional agricultural knowledge and practices, law and gender roles often limit women farmers. For example, women are more likely to be involved in manual activities lower down in the value chains (e.g. weeding and picking), giving them less control over the later stages of production that generate higher income. Cascade landscape communities can no longer solely depend on traditional knowledge and decision-making methods to sustain their livelihoods.  

These challenges faced by modern cascade landscape farmers can be addressed by using smart farming techniques - i.e., the use of technologies such as drones, location systems, robots and artificial intelligence for efficient, productive and sustainable farms. 

Though drone technology requires specialized training and is expensive, the potential benefits gained from its use greatly outweigh this cost. With the precise information they provide on crop health and natural resources, drones can help farmers better manage their farms, improving farm productivity, efficiency, and sustainability. Furthermore, improving access to drone technology can strengthen the agency of women farmers by reducing their dependence on men for labor and providing opportunities for rural youth who are increasingly migrating to urban areas for better livelihoods. 

As the training session ended, Dr. Surantha Salgadoe shared his thoughts on the future of drones in the cascade landscape:

“Affording a drone per person may not currently be feasible, but empowering community youth-based drone stewardship could be an excellent investment and employment-generating avenue in the tank cascade landscapes.” He continued, “The younger generation is rapidly embracing digital tools like drones and smartphones, regardless of gender. Providing them with the necessary skills will create a new way of looking at natural resources and crops, greatly increasing the engagement of youth in agriculture.”