Denis Opudo
Agribusiness is the backbone of the African economy and the most global economic problem, especially in Africa, is hunger. It calls for systems that will produce food faster without affecting the environment. Many startups have developed to make good use of the technology revolution in improving the sector. But there are some startups which tend to leave the environment worse than the way they found it before. This is not what PS Nutraceutical International Limited (PSNIL) is after.
PSNIL believes in working towards an agricultural system that maintains the environment. PSNIL was founded in 2016 by Olisaeloka Peter Okocha and Samson Ogbole. The co-founders aimed at developing, modifying, enhancing and protecting the environment. They also gave the human well-being the first priority. Furthermore, they had a goal of developing and setting up small-scale agricultural technologies for everyone. This was to ensure that everyone was in a position to carry out agriculture.
Entrepreneurship $ Investment for Africa (EI4A) had an open session at WeWork L’Avenue. The event took place on 22nd February 2018. PSNIL was one of the attendants during the event. Businesses in the agribusiness offered the needed supplies for farms to operate during the event. The supplies included seeds and machinery. EI4A is a volunteer-run organization based in Quebec that promotes African entrepreneurship. The event displayed many food production technologies. The technologies were those that can improve the future of farming globally. Okocha attended the event through video chat to represent PSNIL’s technology. He also joined it to share his business ideas in the challenging agribusiness sector. The PSNIL technologies included aeroponics, aquaponics, and hydroponics.
The technologies were meant to offer self-sustainable system. This is a system where water is constantly recycled, reused and never wasted. PSNIL also aimed at using technology that is organic and healthy. The co-founders of PSNIL partnered with private researchers. The partnership was meant to work on nutritional benefits of various foods. They also aimed at researching and developing many uses of agricultural products. This included the production of alternative medicine.
The automated farming system minimizes the amount of labor required to produce food. It also eliminates the use of herbicides or insecticides for crop-growth. This is because crops are grown in a controlled growing environment. Agriculture must be merged with technology to ensure efficiency in the agricultural sector. A good example is a case whereby aeroponics technology allows plants to grow in the air without soil. They also need minimal use of water. The use of hydroponics and aeroponics technologies allows farmers to carry out agriculture in a small piece of land. This is an advantage to those who do not have large tracks of land.
