Unlocking the lower skies: the costs and benefits of deploying drones across use cases in East Africa

This book explores the economic and broader societal rationale for using unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) or "drone" technologies as a complement to the current transport and logistics systems in East Africa. The specific use cases examined include medical goods deliveries, food aid delivery, land mapping and risk assessment, agriculture, and transport and energy infrastructure inspection. The analysis finds that, if examining commodity categories individually and looking exclusively at costs, delivery with UAVs is still more expensive for most categories. However, "layering" several use cases can provide efficiencies and cost savings by allocating fixed costs across a greater number of flights and maximizing capacity and time utilization.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 168 pages
Publication date: 14 June 2021
Publisher: World Bank Publications

This book delves into the economic and societal rationale for employing unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) or "drone" technologies as a complement to the current transport and logistics systems in various use cases across East Africa. The specific use cases examined encompass medical goods deliveries, food aid distribution, land mapping and risk assessment, agriculture, and transport and energy infrastructure inspection. Within these applications, the case for using UAVs is analyzed in the context of logistics objectives, including total operating costs, speed, availability, and flexibility, as well as human or societal objectives.

In the realm of public health, as more low- and middle-income countries seek ways to enhance efficiency and performance in their health supply chains and diagnostics networks, they face a multitude of choices regarding the optimal utilization of UAVs to improve product availability and public health outcomes. The high-level findings from this analysis indicate that, when examining commodity categories individually and solely focusing on costs, delivery with UAVs remains more expensive for most categories. Although the cost is still higher, the most cost-effective use case examples include the transportation of laboratory samples to specific destinations and the delivery of life-saving items and blood. However, "layering" multiple use cases can yield efficiencies and cost savings by allocating fixed costs across a greater number of flights and maximizing capacity and time utilization.

From the perspective of public decision-makers, the cost-effectiveness of UAVs cannot be evaluated without considering the public health benefits, which can be substantial. Drone applications in the other use cases explored in this book, such as mapping, risk assessment, and agriculture, offer promising opportunities for innovation and growth.

Dimension: 280 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781464816963