The Drone-based Aerial Mapping of Agricultural Areas Survey project undertaken by the Ministry of Climate Change and Environment (MoCCAE) seeks to establish an accurate database of information on farms in the country.

The project surveyed farms to understand their total number and the area of each farm, as well as to identify those classified as agricultural holdings - subdivided into seasonal, year-round, and field crop farms, livestock holdings, and mixed holdings. MoCCAE received benefits such as: Faster turn-around, higher accuracy, higher resolution, additional granularity, distance & volumetric measurements, and compatibility with existing GIS software. Additional benefits include the ability to obtain data in Orthomosaic, 3D Map, Point Clouds, Contour Map, etc,.

The project positioned the UAE among the top five countries in the world in terms of area surveyed using unmanned aerial vehicles, and the first for the number of statistical categories mapped using this technology.

The project is considered to be 100% completed, as aerial photography has been completed, and the data extracted from the pictures have been analysed and uploaded within the prepared geographical platform. In August 2018, MoCCAE launched the pilot phase of the project in Ras Al Khaimah to validate the technology’s operational efficiency and the accuracy of the data collected. Results indicated that drone-based aerial mapping ensuring 90-95 percent accuracy of the data. The pilot phase involved remote sensing and aerial imagery of Wadi Al-aim in Ras Al Khaimah.

This project was conducted with the support of all relevant authorities, from the Ministry of Defence, Civil aviation, urban planning statistical agencies and local authorities responsible for agriculture. These entities have joined forces to obtain a unified ultra-accurate agricultural platform at the federal level accompanied by clear weather images in order to provide decision-makers with accurate data to develop future plans for the country's agricultural sector.

All farmers will benefit from this project, as they will be able to request all agricultural extension services in an efficient manner. It will also enable MoCCAE to define agricultural support programs in a large and productive way so as to determine the necessary agricultural plans for local production in order to boost the economy and support farmers through establishing sales channels for local produce, which in turn enable the farmers to increase their income.

Including phase two, the project covered 1,100 square kilometres of agricultural lands across Dubai (188 sq km), Sharjah (276 sq km), Ras Al Khaimah (332 sq km), Ajman (52 sq km), Umm Al Quwain (65 sq km), and Fujairah (135 sq km). By mapping as many as 51 categories of statistical data, the project provided a wealth of information to inform decisions and shape future strategies, as well as develop agricultural extension services for farmers and sales channels for local produce.

The types of data collected through the innovative project include area of windbreaks, infertile land area, area of farm buildings and facilities, number of wells in a farm, and livestock population (camels, cows, sheep, goats, and horses, among others). In addition, data on farm area and geographical boundaries, farm classification (crop farm, animal farm or mixed), area of temporary and permanent crops, number of palm trees and other fruit trees, as well as areas of protected agriculture .

The beginning of 21st century witnessed a growing interest in unmanned aircraft in almost all developed countries. There is no question or doubt regarding technical viability or operational utility of UAVs. Success of UAVs in developed countries represents a historic opportunity to exploit transformational capabilities of this leading technology to support life services. There are four major factors which are the symbol of economic growth for any developing country: agriculture, energy, living standard and the ability to mitigate impacts of climate change. UAV can help in many ways to increase and to sustain the development of the agricultural sector in countries. Drones fitted with payloads such as cameras, enable governments to get a comprehensive view of their farming areas by flying at low altitudes. Using much advanced sensors like hyper spectral, Infra-red imaging,

Often referred to as unmanned aerial vehicles, or UAVs, drones were most commonly associated with military or police operations, but with advancement in information technology over the last two decades, cheaper and smaller sensors, better integration and ease-of-use options, this tool has started revolutionising the way geospatial data is collected in many countries. Monitoring large, rugged areas, with the use of photogrammetry, image processing and ground control points, the captured imagery could provide a base for collecting all the 2D and 3D features and data that contribute to solving the problems in modelling and visualizing the desired areas

Among the lessons learned for the future, it is necessary to specify some pre-flight statement, such as farm boundaries, ownership and data of landlords, and the goal of owning them before flying over them, in order to determine the number of documented regular and random farms.
This issue was later remedied in coordination with the agencies responsible for granting, lands and urban planning in the country to compare the results of drone pictures with documented property maps.