Ethiopia uses drones in bid to help improve food security

Coffee, which originated in Ethiopia, and oilseeds are the country’s two main exports. — AP

Africa’s second most populous country, still struggles to feed itself. But now the government’s Agriculture Transformation Agency, headed by Khalid Bomba, is aiming for widespread commercial farming and food security in 20 years. It’s modelling itself on initiatives in South Korea and Taiwan.

"The reason Ethiopia’s agricultural sector has not developed is because we have not leveraged technology,” said Bomba, 51, who spent a decade at JPMorgan on Wall Street and in London and later worked at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation developing and managing grants in the agriculture sector.