Key Takeaways

1. Drone technology is giving Kenyan smallholder farmers an early warning system against crop loss. Nuru Kenya partnered with Kenya Flying Labs to deploy drone-based crop health monitoring. This helps detect pest pressure, soil nutrient deficiencies, and drought stress.
2. Certified local pilots are putting precision agriculture tools directly in community hands. Nuru Kenya staff completed over four weeks of intensive training to become certified Remote Pilot License holders, combining global drone standards with locally-led agricultural expertise.
3. Aerial data collection is scaling climate adaptation across hard-to-reach rural regions. Using Drone Deploy software to generate continuous surface maps, Nuru Kenya can survey vast farming areas in minutes, identify exactly which farmers need support, and expand the program into new counties, with lessons shared across the Nuru Collective.

In rural Kenya, smallholder farmers risk losing their crops to pests, droughts, floods, and poor soil health. To address these challenges, Nuru Kenya partnered with Kenya Flying Labs and acclaimed drone pilot and filmmaker Scott Anger to become properly licensed and trained to deploy drones in rural Kenya for crop health monitoring. 

What is the challenge that drones can address?

For the farmers Nuru Kenya serves, the margin for error is thin. Five out of the last seven farming seasons in East Africa have been partial failures due to climate change, and risks ranging from erratic rainfall to pests are daily realities (FEWS Net).

As rural communities in Kenya, like those Nuru Kenya serves in Baringo County, increasingly feel the impacts of a changing climate, they risk losing both their sources of income as well as food. Mitigating these risks means carefully monitoring crops for the first signs of distress, but that proves difficult. 

• Crop pests can quickly infiltrate an entire crop. As crops grow and become more dense, farmers find it increasingly difficult to see the first signs of these pests. 
• Similarly, the first signs of soil nutrient deficiencies or poor moisture in the soil can be easily overlooked, resulting in crop damage or loss. 
• When flooding occurs, roadways can quickly be cut off, sometimes limiting accessibility to farms.

Emmah Moraa holds Nuru Kenya’s drone; photo credit: Scott Anger

How do drones address farmer challenges?

Drones provide both a high-level view of crop health as well as an up-close perspective, ensuring farmers have the data and support they need to adapt to challenges in real time. 

• See the Invisible: Sensors attached to the drones can detect plant stress, whether from drought or nutrient deficiency, weeks before the human eye would notice a yellowing leaf.
• Map the Land: Digital elevation models can help the team understand water runoff and soil erosion, which is critical for planning water harvesting structures.
• Increase Support: Instead of walking every acre of dispersed plots, Nuru Kenya staff can survey vast areas in minutes, identifying exactly which farmers need support.

Global Expertise Meets Local Leadership

“Flying is a thrill, but the real magic happens on the ground. By combining global standards with local expertise, we can map an entire field in minutes—turning aerial data into immediate, collaborative solutions for our farmers.” – Tom Kibet, Nuru Kenya COO

Nuru Kenya COO Tom Kibet and Emmah Moraa

To launch this program effectively, Nuru Kenya engaged in a rigorous partnership with Kenya Flying Labs, a branch of a reputable global network dedicated to using robotics for social good. Navigating the airspace in Kenya requires strict adherence to safety and regulations. In early 2024, ahead of training, Nuru Kenya procured a DJI Air 2S drone and worked through the complex licensing process with the Kenya Civil Aviation Authority (KCAA). As a result of this dedication, Nuru Kenya staff members underwent over four weeks of intensive training to become certified Remote Pilot License (RPL) holders.

“This technology is a game-changer for Nuru and will be quite valuable, especially now that the organization is scaling its work to the vast, hard-to-reach ASAL regions of Baringo County. I was so inspired by the preliminary data obtained from the Nuru farmers in Kuria. I saw how the farmers successfully applied the skills and knowledge from the rigorous training to scale up their farming activities and successfully shift from tobacco to alternative crop farming. Being able to point out the exact areas they need to focus on to improve their crop health was so remarkable. We are excited to have this technology in Baringo to accelerate our impact.”  -Pauline Wambeti, Nuru Kenya Managing Director 

To take this technical skill to the next level, Nuru Kenya hosted drone pilot and documentary filmmaker, Scott Anger, in November 2025 in Migori County, Kenya. In addition to being an expert drone pilot, Scott is an award-winning filmmaker whose work has appeared on PBS FRONTLINE. During the November pilot phase, the team conducted test flights over cooperative farms. Using Drone Deploy software, the drone captures high-definition imagery that is processed into continuous surface maps that are valuable for understanding the full landscape. 

“The perspective of a farm changes when you are able to view it from above.  A drone flying 50 meters above a crop enables farmers to quickly see issues easily missed when walking a field.  Irrigation and drainage problems become apparent, stunted crop areas stand out, and plants suffering from nutrient deficiency become visible.  The feedback and information for a farmer is immediate and actionable. In addition, regular imaging of a field enables farmers to track changes to the landscape over time. Farmers can use the imagery to look back weeks, months, and years to see how their fields change and evolve. This equips them to make more precise crop management adjustments that can lead to higher yields at lower costs.” -Scott Anger, Drone Pilot and Documentary Filmmaker

Scott Anger with Nuru Kenya training participants; photo credit: Scott Anger

A Culture of Innovation

Nuru Kenya expects these drones to have a significant impact, ensuring that no crop is lost simply because a farmer couldn’t reach it in time or because early warning signs were overlooked. As the 2026 agricultural season approaches, Nuru Kenya plans to expand its crop monitoring program using the protocols refined during Scott Anger’s visit, while preparing to scale activities into a new county: Samburu County.

The data collected by these drones has implications far beyond the current harvest. As Nuru Kenya begins using drones to support farmers, the team will document lessons learned for the Nuru Collective, ensuring farmers in other regions and countries have the opportunity to benefit from this initiative. By placing the best available technology into the hands of local communities, Nuru Kenya is proving that rural communities can adapt to climate change and find innovative ways to thrive.