In the Western Cape region of South Africa, drones are being used to try to increase farm production. BBC correspondent Turai Maduna visited a lemon orchard there, where most of the fruit is exported to the Middle East and the rest goes to local supermarkets.

A drone now flies regularly over the orchard, buzzing like a large fly as it watches over the whole farm. Hein Gerber, chief executive of First Fruit Group, which owns the orchard, said a person is normally limited by how far they can see and how much time they have, which determines how much of the orchard they can check in a day. If a problem arises in a part you do not reach, you may miss it. The small, remotely operated flying machine solves this by watching the entire orchard from above.

Entrepreneurs behind the technology in South Africa say drone images reveal where a farm fence is broken, where water has run short and crops are drying, which parts of the farm are producing less, and what the soil looks like. That data arrives on a computer daily for regular analysis. Gerber said his farm is benefiting considerably.

The United Nations says the world's population will reach 10 billion by 2050, and global agricultural production must rise by at least 70 percent by then to feed everyone.

Source: BBC Bangla. First published in Bengali on The Agro News.