A drone survey has helped map out a grazing route for herders in Benin, with the aim of lowering conflict with farmers.
About 70 per cent of the sub-Saharan Africa country’s employment and nearly a quarter of its GDP is in agriculture, according to International Fund for Agricultural Development statistics.
For decades, a scarcity of grazing space for livestock and an expansion of farmland due to poor soils has led to conflict between herders and farmers, but now, drones have helped to find a route that minimizes conflict.
Daniel David Tossou, Director of ATLAS-GIS Sa and Benin Flying Labs, says his team’s drone flights produced high resolution land use maps and then the team did topographic surveys to draw up parcel plans for the presumed owners of land along the corridor.
“A 156 km corridor is now demarcated by cement markers, and departmental and communal authorities have issued by-laws inviting herders to use the corridor,” he says, “Today, it’s very easy to see the corridor marked out and demarcated by markers, to see the resting and fodder crop areas, and then the zones demarcating the water reservoirs for the herds.”
Tossou explains that the corridor issue is a national concern, as conflicts between farmers and herders continue to cause death and major damage, with loss of human life.
“Awareness-raising campaigns are carried out in the regions where the corridor is located, using the mass media (awareness and information panels) and village meetings,” he says, “however, some resistance has been noted over the past year, with no dramatic consequences, unlike in other regions where the phenomenon is still rife.
In August 2023, Benin Flying Labs undertook another drone project: surveying a sacred forest in the heart of the historic city of Ouidah.
Originally occupying an area of 27 hectares, the drone survey found that 80% of the initial surface area of the Kpasse Forest is occupied by homes, leaving a mere five hectares of forest intact.
“At communal level, there is a will to restore the sacred forest of Kpassè, a tourist and cultural site,” Tossou says, “Restoration involves the central government and the commune of Ouidah, as the occupants of the forest areas are to be rehoused.”
Building Drone Capacity In Benin
Tossou grew up in the town of Abomey in southern Benin and did his Baccalaureat (secondary school) studies there before moving to the country’s biggest city, Cotonou, to pursue his university studies.
“My desire and curiosity about issues related to space and, above all, geographical knowledge of our environment, became most apparent after the Baccalaureat, and this is what motivated me to enrol in Geography,” he says, adding that he’d go on to earn a master’s degree and a doctorate, focusing on cartography and remote sensing.
Tossou explains that at that time, images for surveying were expensive, slow satellite images or images taken from aircraft: drones were practically non-existent in Benin, and knowledge of them was minimal.
“But with the development of drone technology, our passion and our dream led us to become the very first private drone company in Benin for high-resolution shots and related processing,” he says.
Tossou explains that there is a gap between the Global North and Global South in the field of artificial intelligence; and there’s an urgent need to bridge it.
“The problems of the South need to be solved by the players themselves, even if collaboration with the North is essential, because the wheel can no longer be turned,” he says, “We’re continuing to support capacity building and, above all, facilitating the use of drone and AI technology in development sectors where people are at the center and which have a positive impact on the lives of human beings and the people of Benin in particular.”
Bugs To Feed Fish In Benin
Another group working on solutions for the future of Benin is led by Mahounan Ulrich Armel Gougbedji, executive director of the Benin-based NGO AQUAGENIUS.
He explains that his team is working on optimizing the production of black soldier fly (Hermetia illucens) larvae, as an alternative protein source in fish feeds, in order to promote fish farming in Benin and make it more viable.
“Fishmeal is obtained through costly industrial processes and the massive fishing of small fish species, which is gradually threatening fish stocks and the ecological balance of the oceans,” he says, adding that insects (which are already a natural part of fish diets) are a valid and less costly alternative.
“They can be easily produced, in a small space, from low-cost agricultural by-products, and use little water,” Gougbedji says, “What’s more, the emission of greenhouse gases during their rearing is quite low compared with conventional animal breeding.”
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