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South African company providing agritech solution to combat yield loss

25th April 2019

By: Tasneem Bulbulia

Senior Contributing Editor Online

     

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With farmers losing 20% to 40% of their yield yearly to pests and diseases, new ways to combat these losses are required, and South African company Aerobotics is providing one such solution.

Aerobotics CEO Timothy Willis presented the company’s solution during Agri SA’s Commodity and Corporate Chamber Conference, in Pretoria, on Thursday.

The company provides early pest and disease detection for fruit tree farmers through drone imagery and artificial intelligence.

The company tracks the health and size of farmers’ trees using multispectral, high-resolution drone imagery.

The drone identifies individual trees and the company creates a three-dimensional model of the tree, overlaying data with the health metrics of the tree, such as its growth and height, and the progress of this can then be tracked over time.

Willis noted that the biggest challenge was identifying individual trees with the drone, as they are all very similar. Here, he enthused that the company has a global strategic advantage, as it has developed the ability to find the outline contour of a tree from an aerial view.

This enables it to view the tree, cutting out weeds and other elements, to provide the health metrics to the farmer in a simple, easy to understand output.

The company’s approach is built on an in-field, client-driven data collection model. Once the unhealthy trees have been captured and loaded into the company’s database, these are then communicated to the farmer, and the company encourages the farmer to go into the field and deal with the problem first hand.

Moreover, the data from the farmer is then input into the company’s database, which can then start to learn more about different types of diseases and pests affecting trees.

Willis acclaimed that the company's customers are using the solution daily to save trees in their orchards.

He also noted that the company’s solution is affordable for farmers, with the company aiming to continuously grow its consumer base – the system relies on the volume of data brought in, with more data engendering more opportunities in the agritech space.

The company is constantly seeking to improve all elements of its solution.

Further, the company plans to diversify into other crops. The algorithm will need to learn to deal with different datasets over time and provide the same level of quality over time.

Moreover, the company is expanding across the globe. Willis indicated that there is surprising uptake of the technology in the US – the company initially thought the market would be competitive, but instead, found that it was a niche market that was underserviced.

The company’s staff complement has also seen exponential growth. Willis highlighted that it is particularly pleasing that the company has been able to create “exciting” opportunities for young people across a number of fields.

He enthused that the company’s success and its ambitions to continue growing showcases that the country can build great technology and can be the catalyst for further innovation.

Edited by Chanel de Bruyn
Creamer Media Senior Deputy Editor Online

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