By George Munene
UjuziKilimo is a Kenyan agritech startup that collects and analyses agricultural data geared towards enabling the world's smallholder farmers to improve their productivity and reduce risks through data-driven precision insights.
This data provides farmers granular information on personalised weather patterns, market information, proper agronomic practices, insurance options, etc. This enables them to practice knowledge-driven agriculture; making smarter decisions such as what crops to plant and exact amounts of inputs to apply, and when to harvest for better profitability.
Smallholder farmers operate over 70 per cent of Africa's farmland. Despite this, the scope of data application by these 33 million smallholder farms remains largely minuscule. This is despite its obvious benefits in lifting farm yields and earnings.
Founded in 2014, some of the services the company offers to farmers include:
Soil testing
Soil tests are conducted through the use of a handheld sensor to quickly and easily measure the pH levels, macronutrients (NPK), electrical conductivity, and organic content of your soil.
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Through a monthly subscription, farmers get an unlimited number of soil tests, technical support, fertilizer and lime application recommendations. These are relayed as real-time reports and recommendations through SMS. Farmers can also manage all the data on their Farmssuite account.
Farmsuite
This is a cloud repository that stores all your user-specific farming data. Ranging from the basic free plan to the Sh1,615/year Super Farmer bouquet, farmers get services such as unlimited farmer queries through SMS, farm input insurance, market data and linkages, yield estimation, input financing, reports and analytics, satellite-based crop protection recommendations, digital agronomy services, seed and fertiliser recommendations, comprehensive macro and micro soil tests and weekly weather updates.
Ujuzi Data
UjuziKlimo processes millions of data points daily and uses them to create a specific and highly accurate soil and agronomic data pool. Leveraging this agronomic data, farmers can have better insights and tailored high-level analytics reports that refine their decision-making processes.
The company has earned recognition and accolades from bodies such as the African innovation fund and the royal academy of engineering.
In May last year, it received Sh18 million worth of technical funding from Wadson Ventures capital firm.
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“Through the US$ 174,000 worth partnership commitment, UjuziKilimo will be able to scale its operations, providing intelligent agronomy information to eligible smallholder farmers affiliated to selected co-operative societies, national and county government agencies. Co-operatives interested in receiving free support should sign up by the UjuziKilimo website,” UjuziKilimo founder and CEO Brian Bosire said.
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Tel: +254 (0) 20 2008408
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