Africa Innovates Magazine - Flipbook - Page 21
AGRICULTURE
IN TUNISIA:
REMOTE CONTROLED
WATER FOR
NORTH AFRICA
UPGRADING
WATER
MANAGEMENT
FOR FARMERS
Amira Cheniour is the Tunisian engineer
who co-invented, with Taher Mestiri, a
system to improve water management in
farming. The impact is remarkable: “We
help farmers to cut 30% of their water
consumption, increase their production
by 20%, and save precious time.”
SEABEX
In 2010, as Tunisia was hit by severe
droughts, Taher Mestiri met with a farmer
who’d lost 60% of his crop. It marked the
beginning of Seabex – a low-cost system
which uses Artificial Intelligence (AI) and
the Internet of Things (IoT) to collect and
analyze water and weather data. The
system connects to an automatic irrigation
station which executes preconfigured
plans and scenarios from the platform. It
provides real-time data to farmers so that
they can adapt their use of fertilizers to
the exact needs of their crops.
SEABEX is developing its water
management activity in North Africa.
“There’s an increasing urgency for
agriculture, like other sectors, to pay
attention to its use of water, with the
resource becoming universally scarce.
Our objective is to ensure that water
is available for future generations.”
SEABEX has received many awards for its
founders’ gender balanced setup, their
engagement in food security and climate
issues, and their social impact.
Photo credit: Seabex
Photo credit: Seabex
“We want to create
impact that will prevent
social conflicts and create
a prosper economical
ecosystem in Tunisia,
Africa and the entire
Middle-East North Africa
region, where water
stress is a reality and
agriculture is the number
one sector employing the
population.’’
Amira Cheniour,
Seabex CEO
SHOWCASING AFRICAN CLIMATE CHAMPIONS
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