Helping South African Agribusinesses with Agronomy

South African agri-tech startup Skudu is helping agribusinesses lower input costs while increasing yields by mastering agronomy, or soil science, through technology. Launched in 2018, Skudu came about after Andries Sotfberg, an agronomist with 20 years’ experience, became frustrated with inefficiencies within his industry, such as the length of time it would take to generate a report or the depleting access to independent agronomists. He worked on an algorithm that would allow a computer to do most of the work an agronomist does, and in 2016 approached Kevin Cuthbert and Cobus Van Der Merwe – who had worked together for decades running successful agribusinesses – with a working prototype. Funded and developed, by 2018 the algorithm was able to process over 1,600 cultivars, and had proven itself with test pilots. For farmers, the platform is offered for free and allows them to digitally manage their farm, from what dosage of fertiliser to apply where, to reporting, to block management and note taking, with multi-user access and offline functionality. For agronomists, it acts as a tool to generate reports at a much faster rate – add your own norms and customise pre-generated reports to your satisfaction, or create a ground-up recommendation with premade templates.

SOURCE: DISRUPT AFRICA

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