Chloe Andries
TechInAfrica – Agriculture and Africa share a unique bond. However, modern-day agriculture faces ever-increasing problems. Issues such as climate change, equipment and soil quality. With rapid urbanization and the spread of modern technologies, agriculture has also begun to take on a new modern form.
Technology has brought with its agricultural advances that were previously inconceivable with traditional methods. Various African companies have risen to the challenge and have brought innovative solutions to the challenges they face. Investors also do not hesitate to support them.
Here are our 5 best AgriTech startups to follow in French-speaking Africa this year.
- GRACI
The Ivorian start-up GRACI (Grace Agricultural Côte d’Ivoire), won the OCP Special Agritech in 2018. Founded in 2015, this company offers a program for the production, certification and dissemination of improved seeds for the rice sector. Thanks to this innovative solution, production yields have increased from 2 to 3 tons of rice per hectare to 6 to 7 tons per hectare. This has enabled Ivorian farmers to increase their incomes.
- CLIN SARLU
CLIN SARLU is an agricultural information system equipped with a call center in local languages, a USSD (Unstructured Supplementary Service Data), SMS, web and mobile applications. It allows farmers to find new markets for their products. It also provides buyers with relevant information to facilitate their purchases. The startup has just been selected to provide services to government projects in Togo and Côte d’Ivoire.
Since this young startup was one of the finalists for the 2018 AgriHack Pitch, it is also worth watching for the end of 2019.
- Wenaklabs
Wenaklabs is one of the first hubs in Chad. The center has already begun to have a significant impact – it has worked with UNICEF to make computers from electronic waste and jerry cans. Computers help children connect to the Internet for the very first time, an example of what is possible even in extremely difficult situations.
Wenaklabs is also working on other interesting projects. One of them is Hiratech, which allows farmers to collect information such as temperature, soil moisture, rainfall, etc. This start-up is very innovative and should also be followed in this end of 2019.
- Save Our Agriculture
Via Startup.info
Save Our Agriculture specializes in Aquaponia, an area of modern agriculture that produces vegetables and fish without chemical fertilizers. The start-up was the Cameroonian winner of the Pierre Castel 2018 Prize.
In addition to producing vegetables and fish without chemical fertilizers, the Cameroonian startup, created in 2015, also designs aquaponic kits for domestic aquaponics. So many good things seem to be on the horizon. That is why we should be wary of Save Our Agriculture in the second semester of 2019.
- AGRO-HUB
AGRO-HUB has works to break the cycle of poverty that locks farmers living in rural farming communities in Cameroon. AGRO-HUB is a social enterprise created to fight against the poverty of
rural farmers in Cameroon by improving the incomes of agricultural households through the development of agricultural markets. Through the innovative use of Web and mobile technology, the startup strives to provide these farmers with a much-needed community and markets to sell their products.
The start-up also obtains its agricultural products directly from farmers and sells them directly to the general public through the AGRO-MART “farmers’ supermarket” facilities or supplies them directly to hotels, restaurants, other retailers and exporters. With the vision of becoming a leader in the marketing and distribution of Cameroonian agricultural products in Cameroon and abroad, AGRO-HUB certainly has a lot to achieve in the near future.
These are the first five AgriTech companies to solve agricultural problems in some African communities. If you have any recommendations, please leave a comment below.
Source: Afrohustler
