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Food security in Africa is an imminent threat. However, the agricultural expansion required to feed Africa's growing population is expected to have detrimental environmental impacts. Policymakers are looking for technologies to boost agricultural yields in Africa in more efficient and environmentally sustainable ways. Unmanned aerial systems (UAS), commonly known for military uses, offer promise. Using a mixed-method approach, this interdisciplinary dissertation examines the feasibility — technical and non-technical — of adopting agricultural UAS in Africa. Specifically, I investigated if and how UAS might mitigate the damage borne by the Tsetse Fly and the Red-Billed Quelea, both pests endemic to Africa that are associated with tremendous losses and have adverse impact on food security. Further, I identified drivers and barriers to agricultural UAS adoption and modeled these factors to infer variation in the likelihood that 36 African countries successfully adopt this technology. The results of my research indicate that while UAS offer a potential solution to some of Africa's most pressing agricultural problems, there are several non-technical factors that policy-makers should consider when evaluating initiatives to adopt this technology. Barriers include cost, absence of infrastructure, regulation and public resistance. Drivers on the other hand include support from stakeholders and UAS' potential to draw African youth to join the agriculture sector. Based on these findings, I recommend that policymakers perform mission-fit analysis to determine the suitability of UAS for the agricultural mission of interest and examine its costs and benefits. If UAS is found compatible and cost-effective, policymakers should lower the barriers and capitalize on the drivers that may influence the success of this technology's adoption.
Table of Contents
Chapter One
Introduction
Chapter Two
Background: Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS)
Chapter Three
UAS for Pest Management: The Tsetse Fly
Chapter Four
UAS for Management of Human–Wildlife Conflict: The Red‐Billed Quelea Bird
Chapter Five
Assessing the Feasibility of Adopting UAS for Agriculture in Africa: Analytical Framework
Chapter Six
Innovation Capacity & Technical Literacy of Workforce
Chapter Seven
Affordability & Economic Viability
Chapter Eight
Governance & Institutional Feasibility
Chapter Nine
Cultural Feasibility
Chapter Ten
Results from the Analytical Framework: Feasibility Likelihood Evaluation
Chapter Eleven
Conclusion and Recommendations
Appendix A
Remote Sensing & agricultural applications
Appendix B
Interview Protocol: Red‐Billed Quelea Subject Matter Experts
Appendix C
Interview Protocol: UAS Subject Matter Experts
Appendix D
Survey Questions: Potential Use of Unmanned Aerial Systems for Red‐Billed Quelea (quelea quelea) Control
Appendix E
Interview Protocol: Smallholder Crop Farmers in Kenya
Appendix F
Structure of GII and relationship to analytical framework
Appendix G
Modified GII Score and ranking
Appendix H
Web of Science categories and their relationship to disciplinary knowledge required for UAS production
Appendix I
Publication count per discipline per country
Appendix J
Tertiary Education
Appendix K
Education Sub‐Category Modification
Appendix L
IIAG Modified Score
Research conducted by
This document was submitted as a dissertation in August 2015 in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the doctoral degree in public policy analysis at the Pardee RAND Graduate School. The faculty committee that supervised and approved the dissertation consisted of Jeanne Ringel (Chair), Dave Baiocchi, and Brien Alkire.
This publication is part of the RAND Corporation Dissertation series. Pardee RAND dissertations are produced by graduate fellows of the Pardee RAND Graduate School, the world's leading producer of Ph.D.'s in policy analysis. The dissertations are supervised, reviewed, and approved by a Pardee RAND faculty committee overseeing each dissertation.
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