KIGALI, Feb. 5 (Xinhua) -- Embracing drone technology will play a key role in improving people's lives in Africa, especially those in rural areas who are unable to receive government services in terms of medical supplies and crop monitoring on time, officials said Wednesday.

"Drone technology has proved to be efficient in terms of performing last-mile delivery to people who live in rugged and rural terrains that are difficult to reach in case of emergency," said Temie Giwa-Tubosun, chief executive officer of LifeBank, a Nigerian blood transfusion company.

She was speaking at the formal opening of the African Drone Forum 2020 (ADF 2020) and flying competitions in the Rwandan capital, Kigali.

Drones are able to perform dangerous jobs in emergency scenarios and it's time for African countries to embrace the use of drone technologies to save lives, she said.

"We have mastered the delivery of critical supplies. In the past, we have been able to deliver on average in 45 minutes. However, there are some patients who do not have 45 minutes, so we decided to use the drones to deliver much faster," Giwa-Tubosun said.

The Africa Drone Forum, the first to be hosted in Rwanda, brings together over 800 delegates from across the globe, including drone technology enthusiasts, aviation regulators and government officials.

The forum, which runs through Friday, aims to discuss ways to provide a framework for policies needed to enable the safe deployment of drone technologies in Africa that respond to global challenges.

"Increasing drone use in Africa will bring immense benefits to agriculture, infrastructure, business, tourism and health. It's a cool new technology that would help African countries save lives, most especially in rural remote areas," said Eteni Longondo, minister of health of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

According to him, drone technology would also provide farmers with real-time information about their land and agricultural productivity through aerial mapping.

"In DRC we are looking at using drones to alleviate over-burdened medical supplies in our vast country most especially in rural remote areas," Longondo told the forum.

Speaking at the forum, Rwandan President Paul Kagame said the use of drones to deliver life-saving blood products and vaccines to remote health centres is already a reality in Rwanda, through a partnership with Zipline.

"A Rwandan company, Charis UAS, is using drone technology for crop monitoring and mapping, to support the productivity of our farmers," he said.

There is so much that can be done with this technology and the African Drone Forum is about turning challenges into opportunities, Kagame said.

The day before to formal opening, drone technology proprietors participated in Lake Kivu Challenge Flying Competition, in Karongi district, western Rwanda. The contest will take place again later this week, according to forum organizers. Enditem

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