Quick Info

Business Description

UjuziKilimo is a data-driven agronomy services company, using original and innovative technology to reinvent the soil testing and analysis process, helping farmers to improve and increase crop health and productivity across Kenya.

Problem/Solution

Over 400 million African smallholder farmers rely on traditional knowledge to inform their farming decisions, thus most end up making uninformed decisions resulting in declining productivity on their farms. Due to high costs and inaccessibility of information, many of them cannot afford to pay for extension services, creating a knowledge gap. UjuziKilimo uses sensors to precisely capture soil and farm data from which farmers get real-time actionable and easy to understand advise on fertilizers, seeds, weather, and best practices to ensure they practice productive and sustainable agriculture.

Products/Service

UjuziKilimo uses sensors to collect soil and farm data which is sent to a central database. Farmers get actionable, trackable information in 5 minutes via an interactive SMS platform, helping them to improve and increase crop health and productivity through tailored recommendations and agricultural information.

Market

UjuziKilimo’s target market includes individual smallholder farmers, urban commercial farmers, farmer groups and professional organizations dealing with farming in Kenya. There are over 7 million small scale farmers in Kenya of which over 75% account of total agricultural production. Ujuzi Kilimo estimates serving 5M of the 7M smallholder farmers in Kenyawho have adopted and are using a mobile phone.

Competitive Landscape

Ujuzi Kilimo’s device uses light, temperature, and ion selective sensors to individually detect and measure the soil macronutrients. The Sensors generate electrical signals (voltages) that are conditioned to show exact amounts of the specific ions/nutrientspresent in the soil sample, measuring pH, salinity, NPK, and moisture. Some of our competitors are CropNuts and SoilCares.

Business Model and Distribution Channels

UjuziKilimo team targets smallholder farmers and market focused commercially oriented farms that are ideally a part of a structured group or cooperative. UjuziKilimo tests the soil for free, however to receive report and regular recommendations, a cost is involved. Farmers can either pay this upfront (KES. 2,000), or space out the cost in instalments through the season – a six-month package of KES. 350 monthly fee.

Traction to Date

Ujuzi Kilimo Solutions has partnered with Farmers Pride Africa and Lenana Agrovets. This is aimed at giving the enterprise access to more than 200,000 farmers in the next 2 years to prove the scalability of the business model. The team also has 6 working prototypes and has conducted 500 soil tests to prove accuracy of the kit.In 2018, the major focus will be on establishing a production line through an outsourcedmanufacturer for UjuziKilimo’s hardware.

Ujuzi Kilimo’s Story

UjuziKilimo has developed a hand-held device with soil sensors to determine soil qualities, GPS for farm locations, and weather conditions. This data provides precise and accurate recommendations to farmers in real-time. With information on seeds, fertilizers, weather and crop management, farmers increase their harvests, reduce costs, and have quality produce for the market