It seems the Chinese government is pulling out all stops to help expand the commercial drone business for its native companies, at a time when they are being pushed out of the lucrative North American market.

Xinhua reports that China has handed over five agricultural drones to Zambia, which the respective governments say are aimed at boosting agricultural productivity in the southern African country.

Worth an estimated worth $48,500 United States each, the drones look like they are the Chufanagri TP32 model – a crop spraying drone also capable of sowing small grains, like rice and sorghum.

With a payload capacity of 32litres worth, the drone’s battery can stay in their air for about 20 minutes on a single charge, and during that time, it can spray up to two hectares of field.

The donation follows Zambian President Hakainde Hichilema’s recent State visit to China, aimed at strengthening bilateral ties and fostering cooperation in key sectors, including agriculture.

Agriculture minister Reuben Mtolo received the drones on behalf of his government, while the Chargé d’Affaires of the Chinese Embassy in Zambia Wang Sheng handed them over.

Wang said agricultural cooperation is an important part of the China-Zambia comprehensive strategic and cooperative partnership, expressing the hope that the drones would help improve the country's agricultural production conditions.

China, he said, is willing to promote more joint agricultural projects in Zambia and facilitate increased exports of Zambian agricultural products to China.

On his part, the Zambian minister expressed gratitude to the Chinese government and people for their support, adding that it reflects the deepening of the friendly and cooperative relations between the two countries.

“We believe that the dona­tion of drones marks a fun­da­mental moment in our col­lect­ive jour­ney to mod­ern­ise agri­cul­ture in our coun­try,” Mtolo said.

“Government is implementing an ambitious agriculture mechanisation drive to promote productivity amongst our farmers.

“By utilising modern technologies in our mechanisation drive, we will address a key challenge that confronts our sector today, that of the use of manual labour in cul­tiv­a­tion, crop man­age­ment and indeed har­vest­ing.

The drones donated and the training provided are a starting point in gradually changing our approach to agriculture development.”

In the recent past, China has also donated agricultural drones to the government of Pkaistan, as it fought a locust invasion in 2020.

The Chinese government also helped Zimbabwe’s agriculture ministry with the purchase of ten DJI Agras T40 drones in 2023.