It is quite astonishing perceiving how a few types of plants and animals appear to go extinct. Maybe more terrible when sustenance is in extremely restricted supply or even inaccessible. Imagine a circumstance where you can’t gain access to a specific food type you longing for from the market just on the grounds that they have become extinct.
Food insecurity is a genuine worldwide problem which administrations of different countries have met to proffer long solutions to.
Eradicating hunger is a concern of the United Nations and it is the second objective of the Sustainable Development Goals by the United Nations. Innovative technological approaches has improved life in quite a large number of ways and we have encountered it’s applications in different areas of human endeavours. For example, Education, Health, Communication, Agriculture and many more. Improvements in the use of innovative technologies in Agriculture can be seen in present day farm machines such; Tractors, Harrowers, Ploughers, Ridgers, and so on..
An exceptionally intriguing innovative technology which has proved to be more viable and extremely productive in combating the global issue of food insecurity is the Space technology.
Space based innovations is appropriate to Farmers, Agriculturist, Food organizations and relevant stakeholders who need to upgrade food production strategically. Space innovation is a veritable instrument in modernizing farm practices and guaranteeing quality agribusiness in an agro based economy. Space based practices have a crucial role in development, economic prosperity and job creation.
HOW CAN SPACE TECHNOLOGY ENSURE FOOD SECURITY?
Our planet can deliver enough food and in this way, reduce worldwide poverty caused by hunger and want. Challenges caused by environmental disasters for example, flooding, drought and landslides among others, have denied a few agriculturists both in rustic and urban regions the chance to boost their yields.
Acquisition of data and analysis can help in anticipating a farmers yield. This will obviously be successful in moderating the difficulties of sustenance deficiencies and starvation. Data collection and analysis can be gained utilizing satellite maps of the region/locale. Precision agriculture is an innovative concept of Space based technological application in agricultural practice that ensures holistic coverage of farmlands across regions. Space Technology is pertinent in proffering answers to food insecurity and guaranteeing worldwide sustenance security in the following ways under listed below:
- Early Warning: Space innovation has the affinity to give early cautioning signs before the beginning of these disasters.
- Soil mapping: With Soil mapping, Farmers can have the capacity to tell what soils are perfect and most reasonable for which crops and what soil requires water system for proficient profitability. This data is gotten from remotely sensed information and aides in accuracy farming.
- Monitoring of environmental change and following climatic conditions will assume an imperative job in mitigating hazardous and revolting rates of loss of products.
- Climatic components can be observed utilizing satellite and after that analytically processed with satellite images obtained from space by experienced Space researchers.
- Air Moisture estimation: Air Moisture estimation utilizing Space science innovation is fundamental in the estimation of humidity content The dimension of humidity of a place decides the kinds of yields to be developed and the cultivating practice which will be reasonable in such area of land to reduce loss and reap abundantly.
- Water Resources mapping is required and relevant in addressing issues of water supply. Through remote sensing, agriculturists can predict the amount of water required by the few classification crops developed.
Precipitation appraisals from satellites help farmers in arranging and timing water system process that is appropriate for their harvests.
Space based technology though an extremely costly technology yet possess the capacity in guaranteeing and accomplishing worldwide sustenance security in food if very much embraced among nations of the world especially African countries.
The quest to combating food insecurity and ensuring surplus food production and prosperity for posterity in Africa lies within Africans. Innovative tools like Space technology should be adequately deployed across regions and coupled with existing manpower to handle the technical aspect of it merged with training and sensitizing local farmers on improved technological farming practices, the future of agriculture in Africa will definitely be revamped.
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