Ethio Red Fox Drone Manufacturing was established by two Ethiopian Entrepreneurs Wendim Agegnew Mamo and Liyuneh Adisu with a registered capital of 55 million birr.
Wendim Agegnew CEO Ethio Red Fox, told The Reporter that the company is in the process to build an agricultural pesticide spray drones in the Amhara Regional State. The company has already teamed up with a Chinese drone manufacturing firm. Wedimagegnew said the company would import agricultural spray drones from China and assemble them in Ethiopia and supply to the local market in Ethiopia as well as the East African market. “Our Company will engage in two types of service. Number one we will assemble and sell the drones. Number two we will provide agricultural spray service for farmers and commercial farms,” Wedim Agegnew said.
According to Wedimagegnew, the drone will have a capacity to spray 4.5 hectares of farm land per hour, which is 40 times more efficient than the manual spray service. “Using manual pesticide spray impacts crops. The women farmers spray the pesticide without appropriate protective clothe and then hold their kids which is harmful to the health of the infants,” he said. “By using the drones farmers and commercial farmers save time and maintain their wellbeing,” he added.
Agengew said Ethio Red Fox will bring experts on drone manufacturing from China who will train Ethiopian youth. “They do not have to be college graduates. We will hire and train them. After 45 days they will start assembling the drones,” he said. By
Ethio Red Fox is planning to build the assembly plant in the Amhara Regional State in Debre Berhan town. “The Amhara Regional State is very cooperative to us. The Agricultural Bureau has provided us with a store that we will use to assemble the drones until we secure the land and build our own assembly plant,” Agegnew said. “They told us all the problems they are having with weeds and the negative impacts of using pesticides manually. It is truly a big problem,” he added.
Ethio Red Fox plans to start the drone assembly in June this year. “We will train the youth how to operate the spray drones and we will have thousands of youths within two three years. We will sell the spray drones and we will also provide the pesticide spray service,” Agegnew said.
The Ethiopian Civil Aviation Authority has prepared a drone regulation that allows the import and use of drone in Ethiopia.
