State-of-the-art technology for the agriculture industry from two pioneering Israeli companies is now exclusively available from AECI Plant Health in Africa. Through AgroScout and SupPlant, the AECI Group business is leveraging artificial intelligence (AI), algorithms, geo-tagging and GPS as well as apps, “the cloud”, drones, satellites and smartphones to help growers improve their productivity and yields while reducing the use of chemicals and water.
AgroScout (www.agro-scout.com)
The free app uses a simple, off-the-shelf drone to scout 5 000 plants across 25 ha in 20 minutes. This removes the need for many manual, time-consuming and traditional farming activities like stand counts. The cloud-based service is accessible 24/7/365 and is available in 35 countries and 18 languages.
Some of the features include:
- Crop diagnostics for diseases and pests
The app analyses images from a field to identify diseases and pests and generate a report for remedial action. Each report includes the precise GPS location of every finding so that growers can accurately and easily locate and treat the infected area.
- Stand count estimates
The app analyses images from a field to calculate the precise number of plants in a specific area and generate an accurate stand count report for the entire field.
- Leaf index
The app monitors plant development through the growing season and gives the grower insight into overall plant health and any sections in the field that are “behind schedule”. This information is used to anticipate crop performance and yield and make better decisions.
- Crop health
The app compiles and “stitches together” photos from autonomous drone missions to give a complete picture of what is happening in the field. With the Walk-to-the-Plant mobile feature, growers can use the geo-tagged photos to find a specific plant at leaf level, even when they are offline.
- Satellite monitoring
Normalised difference vegetation index (NDVI) is an image taken by a drone or satellite that provides an additional measurement of crop health. NDVI is an essential tool for detecting lesions, pests and stress early to prevent irreparable damage before it happens.
- Carbon footprint
The app provides the necessary tools for growers to reduce their carbon emissions. Carbon insetting is the process for directly incorporating nature-based methods and techniques to reduce the generation of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases. By utilising AgroScout through the growing season, growers are able to reach their sustainability goals such as:
- Improving irrigation practices
- Increasing crop nutrient efficiency
- Reducing the need for excessive, widespread chemical applications
AECI Plant Health tested the technology on South Africa’s West Coast for the first six months of this year before commencing commercialisation initiatives in the Cape, Free State and Limpopo since July.
SupPlant (www.supplant.me)
Sensors are placed in deep and shallow soil as well as on the plant’s fruit, leaf and stem/trunk. Data is analysed by SupPlant’s cloud-based algorithm and activates the irrigation controller as needed, resulting in a fully autonomous data-driven irrigation system. Several successes include:
- 30% decrease in water use
- 20% increase in yields
- Accurate achievement of harvest goals, particularly in terms of quality and size
- Healthier plants
- Reduced risk of damage
SupPlant is on Time magazine’s “100 best inventions of 2021” list and recently raised US$27 million for a new Application Programming Interface (API), specifically for smallholder growers who are 98% of all farmers worldwide. The new API is sensor-less (and therefore more cost-effective) and provides irrigation recommendations based on the statistical data of growing conditions anywhere in the world.
To date, AECI Plant Health has installed 22 “tree telemetry” systems on farms totalling 1 370 ha and is aiming for 7 000 ha by 2025.
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