smart tech the new tool for african farmers - smart tech

Dakar: how can you better manage the tips for feeding school children at a lower cost?
How do you calculate the number of mangoes on the farm in order to get a fair price?
What is smart? but-
Cheap ways for farmers to cut irrigation costs?
Agriculture is divided
Sub-Saharan Africa may have an image of hard work and low productivity, but experts say new technologies are changing that.
Farmers, crop buyers and professionals in other industries have begun to use smart devices and tight numbers to increase productivity, reduce costs and eliminate wrinkles in the market, they said.
"The digital revolution is unfolding in Africa," said Pascal Bonner, deputy director of CIRAD, France's international development Agricultural Research Center.
"There are excellent IT researchers across the continent-digital agriculture is a real opportunity for qualified young Africans.
"In Europe and North America, the idea of directly linking farmers to consumers, and eliminating wholesalers and shops is a familiar story.
Awa Thiam, 28year-
Old telecom engineers are following suit in her home country, Senegal.
The company she founded, Lifan investment, connects the school canteen with the breeding cooperative with big data.
"There is a lot of demand," Thiam said . " She showed her job at an agricultural company.
Technical Meeting held in Dakar last month.
"Today, between 25% and 50% of school meals go to intermediaries, but the school has a limited budget.
If you shorten the supply chain, the canteen can reduce the meal cost and provide a more diverse menu for the children. ” Her one-
The Stop platform leverages crop production and school databases to match potential demand with supply. It group-
In order to reduce the cost of the school, the transportation of goods will be organized in the end, and the operation will be monitored in real time.
At the same time, by moving the calculation of a project called Pix Fruit, it is designed to help farmers estimate their mango crops by calculating a pile of Fruit on a tree and then inferring the entire plantation. This rough-and-
The Ready method has considerable error space.
Emile Fey, French researcher in digital agriculture
Ecoology, which works for Pix Fruit, says the chances of error can be as high as 10 times.
For example, buyers can pay the price of two tons of mangoes while shipping 20 tons of mangoes from farmers, although errors may occur.
Pix Fruit's alternative uses advanced modeling software to count crops more precisely.
The farmer used a smartphone to take pictures of the trees in his field. Fruit-
The identification technology then uses a database compiled with the help of drones to calculate possible overall gains, which also includes information on climate, soil and administrative restrictions.
In this way, farmers can understand the real value of their crops, while wholesalers and price negotiators can better cope with the risk of oversupply or shortage.
The system, jointly developed by CIRAD and the Senegalese Institute of Agriculture, can be extended to coffee, lychee and citrus.
The market information that smartphones should play such an important role is not surprising.
The emergence of mobile devices has helped Africa to surpass the cost of installing fixed telephones and promote innovative use
Share to transfer.
This pioneering work is now spreading to the rural world.
The third continent
According to Africa, most apps are downloaded.
The website is Esoko, which collects and shares crop prices, provides weather information and agricultural tips, and arranges payments through the mobile money system.
The company operates in Benin, Bukina Faso, Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, Malawi, Madagascar, Mozambique and Zimbabwe.
The Widim pump, manufactured by a company called Nano Air in Dakar, is a box sent by farmers to manage SMS control of irrigation systems.
Oumar Basse, 27, says savings are huge even for poor peasant familiesyear-
Old engineers and colleagues in the companyfounder.
"Farmers don't need to walk a few kilometers anymore (miles)
Monitor the pump every day or when you run out of fuel or hire someone.
"He can turn water on or power off with his phone.
Nanoair has 12 employees after two years of operation, sold 250 Widim systems and received orders from Morocco and Zambia.
Basse has also set up another company to help with delivery and after-sales servicesales services.