Sub-Saharan Africa’s population is set to double over the next 30 years, with access to reliable and affordable food sources essential. AgriTech startups in Africa and innovative services have a huge part to play in tackling food security.
We take a look at five such AgriTech startups in Africa, nominated for the Best AgriTech Solution at the AppsAfrica Innovation Awards 2019.
Aerobotics provides insights from high res drone images. Aeroview InField is an end-to-end pest and disease management app. Available for iOS and Android, Farmers can use the app to go out to monitor the problems with their fields.
GPS-referenced scout points will contain notes and photos of the problems, which then link back to our Aeroview web platform for reporting. With Aeroview InField, Farmers digitise the scouting process to lead to better and more accurate data, which in turn helps to reduce costs and maximise yield.
FarmX is an app-enabled B2B2C platform that matches on-demand farmer’s request to agro service providers with a mobile payment solution, optimizing food production and access to wider markets.
FarmX mobile app matches farmer’s requests to service providers such as financial/insurance services, input suppliers and producers. It also matches interns to farmers for reduced labor costs and capacity building for the next generation of farmers.
Farmers can also hire equipment from the FarmX platform at a reduced rate. They can also sell products with payment sent to an e-wallet. Data is analysed to improve access to farmers from inputs suppliers, extension services and government services.
The cost of getting high-quality African commodities to the global market on a consistent basis in a timely and efficient manner can be expensive with too many middlemen & touchpoints.
Go-Africa is building and operating commodities processing facilities in Africa that serve local and global markets cost-effectively, utilizing “first in class” processes, leveraging a backward integration strategy.
Branded products like Go Africa Coffee, roasted Cashews and teas are exported and marketed and sold in the USA.
Promagric (Cameroon)
Promagric helps farmers combat crop diseases to reduce agricultural losses. The application uses artificial intelligence (AI) to diagnose crop diseases from an image, improving productivity and profitability.
The service has created a knowledge base of plant diseases and enables farmers to diagnose diseases using AI. Promagric also features a forum led by experienced agronomists and farmers.
Dytech (Zambia)
Dytech is using drones to collect data from the farm field, mobile phone to analyze data into a prediction model that gives clear insight on how farmers can improve farming.
They have also built a data and risk-sharing platform that incentivizes all parties to participate. Technologically advanced farms are rewarded for their valuable data, bankers benefit from data that support their credit risk models, farmers get better loan terms and recommendations that increase their profits and production, and technology companies get recommendations on how to best support the needs of their farmer customers.
