Space Harvest
Satellites helped the U.S. wage war in Afghanistan, gathering reconnaissance and guiding unmanned drones. Now, they are helping to rebuild the devastated nation.
In January, the United States began distributing more than 7,000 metric tons of improved varieties of drought-resistant seeds to farmers in the war-torn country, where agriculture is the primary industry and wheat the staple crop (see sidebar: “Seeds of Hope”). To decide where to send seeds, relief workers are-for the first time in Afghanistan-using satellite imagery to distinguish fertile regions from drought-stricken ones.
“We want to make sure that we’re getting the improved varieties of the seed to areas where there is moisture in the soil,” says Andrew Natsios, administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development, which is responsible for American aid to developing countries.
Relief workers will use satellite imagery to help farmers cope with the worst drought in the country’s memory, which has turned vast swathes of arable land into parched desert. The drought is so severe that Ross Wherry, a USAID rural development specialist, likens it to the dustbowl that struck the southern U.S. in the 1930s. “It’s a crushing blow,” he says, heaped on top of the destruction and dislocation of Afghanistan’s 20 years of civil war.
As refugees return home from Pakistan and elsewhere, farmers will attempt to replant crops on the land their families have worked for generations, Wherry says. But no seed-not even the drought-resistant ones provided by U.S. authorities-will grow in some areas. “It doesn’t do people any good to bring them seed they can’t use,” Wherry says. “It just makes them angry.”
Keep Reading
Most Popular
This new data poisoning tool lets artists fight back against generative AI
The tool, called Nightshade, messes up training data in ways that could cause serious damage to image-generating AI models.
Rogue superintelligence and merging with machines: Inside the mind of OpenAI’s chief scientist
An exclusive conversation with Ilya Sutskever on his fears for the future of AI and why they’ve made him change the focus of his life’s work.
The Biggest Questions: What is death?
New neuroscience is challenging our understanding of the dying process—bringing opportunities for the living.
Driving companywide efficiencies with AI
Advanced AI and ML capabilities revolutionize how administrative and operations tasks are done.
Stay connected
Get the latest updates from
MIT Technology Review
Discover special offers, top stories, upcoming events, and more.