The food & Agriculture Organization of the United Nations is looking to obtain preliminary information on the availability of potential vendors to provide solutions enabling FAO, within the context of Desert Locust early warning & preventive control systems, to improve its monitoring activities through the use of fixed and rotary wing ‘drones’.
The purpose of this Request for Information (RFI) is to obtain preliminary information on the availability of potential vendors to provide solutions enabling FAO, within the context on Desert Locust early warning and preventive control systems, to better its monitoring activities through the use of fixed and rotary wing unmanned aerial vehicles (hereinafter UAV), commonly called ‘drones’.
Vast areas of remote desert which include some of the world’s poorest countries are regularly monitored for Desert Locust by national ground teams in 4WD vehicles. These areas have no mobile or internet coverage and are several days drive or more from the National Locust Centers. Although satellite-based estimates of rainfall and green vegetation are utilized to reduce and prioritize these large and potentially suitable areas, imagery suffer from omission errors and are often not available in time. Aerial surveys are usually not possible due to high costs and unavailable aircrafts. Consequently, there is a need to supplement these tools with additional technologies to guide ground teams to green vegetation and locust infestations.
The use of fixed and rotary wing unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV), commonly called drones, could be a potential means of improving Desert Locust monitoring, early warning and rapid control, and reducing the costs of survey and control.
The information gathered from this RFI will be used by FAO to confirm or infirm that assumption and to determine the feasibility, scope, timeframe and resources required by FAO.
Specific Requirements
FAO is thus looking for solutions to improve the Desert Locust monitoring, early warning and rapid control system and to reduce the costs of survey and control.
RFI Reference: FAO/RFI/Drones-2016
For additional information contact:
– General: [email protected]
– Project Officer: Keith Cressman – [email protected] – Tel.: 39-06-57.05.24.20 (Rome, Italy)
Deadline: 15 January 2017
