Agri-tech is the use of technology for farming that is developed to improve efficiency and profitability. … Agri-tech aims to improve farming through information monitoring and analysis of weather, pests, soil and air temperature.

Drones are already used in many parts of Africa to monitor the field during the growing season. In February of 2017, CRS, in collaboration with NetHope, flew a drone, or Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV), over cashew farms in central Benin. From the images, they could see immediately were several issues the farmers needed to address. They could see where was space available to plant more trees and how many could be planted, where trees needed to be thinned out, where there had been burning, and areas for follow-up due to invasive weeds or other problems.

There are now software attached to a drone that automatically send information on : tree counts, crop stress, and gradient changes that can show where water goes. These are hard to detect with the human eye, yet with this information, the field agent can use his limited and expensive time to pinpoint areas that need an in-person visit.

Blockchain is an incorruptible electronic ledger that can track each transaction of a food item’s journey through the food chain.

Augmented reality (AR) is already been use to layout the planting options in a field. Fertilizer companies are using this technology to demonstrate the impact  straights or complex fertilizers could have on a customer’s farm.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is also now been used in Agriculture. In particular, farmers are using machine vision, where computers process visual data collected from a drone, or a smart phone. This data can be used to improve efficiency. Some companies are even using AI to identify animal behaviour and productivity.

Do you have a business idea or a business that leverages digital technologies
to transform the agriculture industry in Sierra Leone?
Innovation SL is looking for Agtech start ups to incubate in InnovationsAxis.
InnovationsAxis is a co working, combined incubator and accelerator.
Send an email to [email protected] with a summary of your idea and we may
start a conversation-.