The earning potential of most farms in Nigeria and Sub-Saharan Africa is very low. This is because of very low yields with crop yields at a third of global yield averages (IFPR-World Development Report 2008), as well as very high post-harvest losses with between 40 and 60% of everything produced lost to post harvest losses annually (FAO/AGRA 2012). As a result, farmers are very poor, and constitute about 75 % of all the people who survive on less than $1 per day. There are over 64 Million Smallholder farmers in Nigeria responsible for over 90% of all agricultural production. But they constitute about 75% of all the people who survive on less than $1 per day because of very low yields and high postharvest losses. To tackle these challenges, we developed the Kitovu platform.
Kitovu is a data science powered mobile platform that aggregates soil and market demand data. The soil data enables us provide farmers with custom blended fertilizers produced to take into account soil nutrient deficiencies and crop nutrient needs, as well as certified seeds and vegetation specific chemicals. The market demand data on the other hand enables us tell farmers what varieties and crop specifications to grow so as to guarantee offtake. Through our system we provide an end to end solution from farm to market, which enables farmers make more money off their farms at no extra cost.
Kitovu triples crop yields through a proven system that has outperformed the national yield average for grains by over 300%; going from 1.2 Tons to 4.2 Tons per Hectare. Kitovu's mobile based supply system aggregates soil and market demand data; which enables it to provide farmers with soil and crop specific inputs while connecting farm produce to offtakers. As a result, farmers get the benefits of precision agriculture while commodity buyers get the exact specifications they require, hassle free and at no extra cost.
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