Africa Innovates Magazine - Flipbook - Page 24
USING HIGH TECH
TO UPGRADE FARMS
AND ENHANCE RESILIENCE
IN NIGER
CREATING
DIGITAL GREEN
FARMING
AGRICULTURE
Like Tolbi, Niger’s Tech-Innov is a social
enterprise that is developing and marketing
digital agricultural innovations through
tele-irrigation, use of mobile phones, bio
fertilizers and a UV process to ensure that
water is clean and safe. Its ecological digital
farm uses tele-irrigation, sensors and solar
energy to manage scarce water resources.
This internationally acclaimed innovation,
patented by the African Intellectual
Property Organization, is headed by CEO
Abdou Maman Kané – a specialist computer
engineer focused on leveraging new
capacities to modernize agriculture.
Abdou’s passion led him to start this new
endeavor, building farms equipped with
remote-controlled irrigation systems, and
installing solar fields and a wide range of
associated equipment. A 2-hectare pilot
farm has been built in Koum which will
benefit 100 households, empowering them
to grow their crops, even during periods of
water scarcity. A community mechanism is in
place for farm management, including four
committees specialized in water, energy,
irrigation, and innovation. The programme
has attracted international support from the
World Food Programme, plus local NGO,
Karkara.
“Both our natural and
technological assets are
huge. But agriculture
is poorly modernized
in comparison with the
industrial sector or the
services sector. How can we
reverse the current trend
so that the world can enjoy
food security?”
Abdou Maman Kané,
Tech-Innov CEO
Photo credit: Abdou Maman Kané
24
Photo credit: TechInnov
SHOWCASING AFRICAN CLIMATE CHAMPIONS
