TECH-INNOV, THE DIGITAL GREEN FARM

In the Sahel, rural populations, especially the youth and women, are facing strong climate changes (i.e. irregular rains, drop in soil fertility) directly affecting agriculture productivity. The Digital Green Farm addresses both issue with drip irrigation and onsite bio-organic fertilizer production.

The DGF is a fully automated agricultural platform including digital innovations and agricultural add-ons (well, water tank, drip irrigation, etc.). It is controlled remotely via cell phone, solar and IOT sensors and includes: (1) Bio Fertilizer (i.e. organic manure), (2) Automatic Livestock Water Supply, (3) Drinking Water Kiosk (i.e. UV water treatment), (4) Mobile Weather Station (rain forecast) and (5) the Discreet Scanner (i.e. video surveillance, alarm).

The DGF is designed for land plots between one to five hectares. Improving the productivity of agriculture production will contribute to food security. Scaling up the model will decrease the capital expenditure costs allowing to reach out more vulnerable families.

Niger is one of the least developed countries with a GDP of USD 17.7 billion (2014), ranking 147th in the world. Agriculture occupies 90% of the population and irrigated crops represent 0.2% of total agricultural land.

Droughts are recurrent, rainfalls are random and lasts only 3 months per year. This causes chronic food insecurity, widespread poverty and young people migration. 80% of the rural population practices manual and rudimentary irrigation. It occupies 2/3 of the farmer’s daily time, remains inefficient, wastes water and production yield remains below expectations. In addition, diesel pumps emit greenhouse gases. 

To allow these populations to survive decently and have a reliable and alternative economic model, we have developed the concept of the Digital Green Farm for the benefit of young people and women who are most exposed to these issues. To achieve this, we have placed the cell phone, the youth’s favourite device, at the heart of agricultural production.

With the DGF, youth and women can develop a sustainable business model and remain in their community, increase the irrigable plot size, production, and income, optimize water management, while being integrated into the national economy.

Channelled by GSM, Tech-Innov’s Digital System activates remotely an irrigation and livestock-watering system, a cattle drinking-water kiosk while the weather station provides needed data to take decision. On each plot, a water well is equipped with a solar water pump to fill the water tank for drip irrigation and small cattle who will provide the organic manure. 

To activate these systems, farmers call Tech-Innov's server from their mobile phones where an automatic application has been set up to answer the phone, recognizes the customer's login, and then connects him to the system to remotely control it. Farmers can either activate or stop their systems without being on site. 

Tech-Innov’s Digital System is the first GSM-based system enabling remote irrigation in Niger making Tech-Innov’s competitive advantage. The actual Nigerien mobile market reaches around 50% of the population. 

Tech-Innov’s Digital System concept is secured by the African Intellectual Property 0rganisation (n°16025 / BOPI / 07/13).

Our solutions are designed for small scale farmers to modernize their production system, in particular the management of irrigation and fertilization. This segment of the population has been marginalized by technological developments in recent decades. It is even more alarming for vulnerable populations, especially young people and women, who are most exposed to climatic hazards, unemployment, poverty, conflicts and migration.

Tech-Innov, together with technical partners, regularly undertakes participatory studies and diagnostics with these populations to draw an exhaustive inventory of their difficulties and problems and identify possible solutions to be brought to them. The most recurring issues are food insecurity, joblessness, and the lack of a sustainable alternative.

Tech-Innov’s Solutions (Tele-Irrigation, Bio Fertilizer, etc.) offers an innovative farming concept, the DGF, where these populations can produce their own food, market the surplus, support their families and educate their children. The digitalisation of agriculture changed the mindset of young agriculture who now see agriculture with a more positive mindset. As a result, rural migration is slowing down and the economic development of the community is improved.

In 2020, with the Youth and Women's Resilience Program of the World Food Program (WFP Niger)  and in collaboration with 7 local NGOs, Tech-Innov set up 8 digital farms in 4 regions of Niger (Maradi, Tahoua, Tillabery, Zinder) creating income generating activities for 1’244 households and more than 10’000 young people were impacted.

In 2021, WFP doubled its funding for this program with the goal of impacting 25’000 young people. The United Nation Fund for the Population (FNUAP Niger) has followed in the footsteps of WFP to create jobs through DGFs for more than 30’000 young girls aged between 15 and 19 years in the framework of the ILLIMIN program. The United Nations Development Program (UNDP) has also initiated a "Women's Empowerment through ICT" project based on the installation of DGFs for 12’620 vulnerable rural women in order to withstand climate shock and COVID 19.

The major and most urgent challenge in rural area is to develop sustainable business models that can cope with climate change and decreasing soil fertility. By improving the productivity of fenced agricultural plots and providing some hype around digitalization, Tech-Innov provides a future for the youth who expect earn a decent living with the DGF. By improving the fertility of soil with small cattle manure, Tech-Innov DGF will contribute in restoring the overall ground vegetation which will retain soil and contribute in reducing droughts in order to settle down and fix young people in their land.

Created in 2013 in Niamey (Niger), the social enterprise Tech Innov developed the DGF concept and won several national and international distinctions, including the 1st Prize for Social Entrepreneur in Africa and the World Water Prize (https://youtu.be/17M20hkQmx49). 

The business model is based on two components:

Direct sales to private farmers wishing to modernize their operations. In October 2020, Tech-Innov supported Wally Agro in the Niamey region, to modernize its 5 ha farm for an amount of USD 125’000. Two other farms will be equipped in July 2021.

Subsidized sales by NGOs to vulnerable communities. In 2020, WFP Niger installed in 4 regions of Niger 8 DGFs of 3 ha for 8’400 beneficiaries (150 households / DGF) for a total cost of USD 600’000. 

Tech-Innov’s Solutions addresses the water-energy-food security nexus in Niger. 

Scarcity of energy is addressed with solar energy, ֹan abundant and free energy source. This will power the water pump and the various electronic devices connected to the DGF. It will also contribute in reducing carbon-dioxide emissions.

Scarcity of water for irrigation will be addressed by drip irrigation, to make the best use of water. In addition, the Mobile Meteorological Station, will measure air temperature, pluviometry, wind speed, solar irradiation, and humidity levels on the cultivation plot.

By calling the Tele-Irrigation mobile number, Farmers can either irrigate their crops with the water stored in the water tank or rely on the forecasted rain. In addition, a Short Message Service (SMS) alarm alerts the farmer if specific climatic events occur, such as rain outside the rainy season or an unusually low humidity level.

Scarcity of fertilizer and low soil fertility will be addressed by raising small cattle on site and using their manure to produce a bio and liquid organic fertilizer which is delivered thru the drip irrigation system.

By enabling sustainable business models for rural farmers, with a innovative and simple tech solution, Tech-Innov is well positioned to break thru traditional agricultural systems which can’t support any more any decent living. The challenge will be to decrease the average investment costs in order to facilitate the scaling up of the company. 

From 2013 to 2020, Tech-Innov installed 28 digital farms on approximately 200 hectares of surface area, thus impacting more than 25,000 households, i.e. more than 200,000 direct beneficiaries and 1,000,000 indirect targets.

These results are broken down by year as follows:
2013: 1 digital farms, 5 hectares, 800 households or 6000 direct beneficiaries
2 to 14: 2 digital farms, 8 hectares, 1,300 households or 9,000 direct beneficiaries
2015: 3 digital farms, 12 hectares, 1,800 households or 12,600 direct beneficiaries
2016: 2 digital farms, 5 hectares, 800 households or 6,000 direct beneficiaries
2017: 2 digital farms, 6 hectares, 9,000 households or 63,000 direct beneficiaries
2018: 4 digital farms, 15 hectares, 2,200 households or 16,000 direct beneficiaries
2019: 3 digital farms, 12 hectares, 1,800 households or 12,000 direct beneficiaries
2020: 11 digital farms, 19 hectares, 9,800 households or 68,600 direct beneficiaries

This year 2021 we aim to install around 16 digital farms on 24 hectares and impact more than 80,000 households

Our goal for 2026 is to build 67 digital farms on 500 hectares of land and impact more than 260,000 households, ie 1,820,000 direct beneficiaries and 10,000,000 indirect beneficiaries.

Our performance indicators will mainly be the number of Digital Green Farms installed, our turnover, the number of beneficiaries impacted and the return on customer satisfaction that we can measure through our call center.
In addition to these qualitative and quantitative performance indicators, we will also use impact indicators such as the Sustainable Development objectives.
1 No poverty
2 zero hunger
8 Decent work & economic growth

Total Full-time staff  : 11

Staff between 15 & 35 years : 5

Number of female employees : 4

Part time / seasonal employees : 9

Tech-Innov currently employs 7 permanent agents including:

·      Engineers: IT specialist & developer (1x), developer (1x) and telecom engineer (1x).

·      Senior Managers: financier administrator (1x) and logistic manager (1x).

• Support staff (2x). 

Added to this are:

·      Contract workers (4x).

• Trainees (2x).

 For complementary works, in particular civil engineering, plumbing, agricultural support, Tech-Innov has a network of subcontractors made up of six specialized companies.

Coming from a farming family, I experienced the difficulty of collecting and distributing irrigation water. In my hometown Zinder there is no large surface water course and the aquifers are very deep. We (my parents and I) go for miles to fetch water by hand or head. Currently I wear the sequence of this water chore. Indeed my right arm is arched following a fall with 25 liters of water on the head. My paternal uncle has a crooked spine from carrying water in his hand. It is since this childhood that I have taken this problem to heart and to provide a solution to it, I opted for computer science in order to develop applications capable of alleviating this suffering.

Niger remains a rural and traditional country. Nevertheless, Tech-Innov’s governance and management team is made up of 54% of women who have moved on to positions of responsibility and decision-making, particularly in finance and accounting. 

Young people are the arms of Tech-Innov, that is to say the men on the ground. They represent 40% of the company's human resources. 

All of these resources come from different cultural and linguistic backgrounds and were recruited on the basis of equal opportunity between gender and ethnicities.

Tech-Innov is applying to Solve for the following reasons. As we believe our solution can contribute to strengthen the resilience of rural populations, mainly youth and women, we understand that our next challenge will be to scale-up significantly in order to decrease the overall implementation cost (CAPEX) for on DGF.

This involves Tech-Innov to move forward in two directions:

• On one side, Tech-Innov has to strengthen its equity base and this can only be achieved by inviting new shareholders, the challenge being for the founder to remain in control.
• On the other side, Tech-Innov has to significantly decrease the implementation cost of one DGF. This will imply some level of “industrialization” as only scale can support such cost reduction.

Therefore, for both reasons, Tech-Innov is seeking for all the advice and coaching that Solve could provide. Tech-Innov believes that with Solve’s support it will manage to enrich its network of funders, supportive partners and have more success in finding the path towards sustainability.

Human Capital.  Tech-Innov will have to strengthen its management team. One challenge will be to attract sharp profiles while providing them a decent and motivating salary package. 

Business model. Actually, Tech-Innov implemented a “vertical” value-chain, from production, to installation and monitoring. Later down the road, the business model could evolve and Tech-Innov could out source the implementation while focusing on providing advice to farmers and providing market opportunities by linking them directly with retailers.

Financial. Implementing analytical accounting will help Tech-Innov to better monitor its production costs and find solutions to decrease them. Regarding investors, presenting sound financial projections will improve Tech-Innov’s business case.

Public Relations It will be beneficial for Tech-Innov to strengthen its social media appearance in order to build over time, a popular brand. The challenge will be to target the beneficiaries (i.e. rural farmers) who will the final consumer of the DGF.

Monitoring & Evaluation. The data collected could be valued overtime with retailers or urban consumers who will want to know where their food has been produced. It could also facilitate the implementation of resilience emergency programs funded by the Government by targeting the truly needy populations.

Product / Service Distribution (expanding client base). As scaling up sales is the major strategic objective for Tech-Innov, any advice and coaching support in this area will be valuable.

Technology (software or hardware, web development/design, data analysis, etc.). Strongly technology based, Tech-innov’s concept will improve regularly overtime by implementing new devices and features.  

Tech-Innov first wishes to integrate the MIT Solver community for experience sharing and international visibility, then to partner with specialized teams including:
• Entrepreneurship on the digitization of agriculture (Martin Trust Center for MIT Entrepreneurship, Deshpande Center for Technological Innovation, Sandbox Innovation Fund, MIT Startup Exchange
- The industrial engineering laboratory (D-Lab)
We also wish to strengthen our relations with our current partners, in particular the World Food Program WFP, the United Nations Population Fund UNFPA, the United Nations Development Program UNDP and related projects and programs.

We are currently working with international organizations based in Niger such as the World Food Program WFP, the United Nations Population Fund UNFPA, the United Nations Development Program UNDP and sector ministries to improve the living conditions of rural women. and increase their resilience capacities in the face of climate change, poverty, conflicts, migration and COVID 19. All these interventions are structured and focused on digital

WFP Youth and women's resilience program (75%) funded by WFP in the 8 regions of Niger (target 12,000 women in 2021).

UNDP Program for the empowerment of women through ICTs funded by UNDP (target 20,000 women in 2021 - 2022).

UNFPA Economic integration program for young girls aged 15 to 19 funded by UNFPA (target 30,000 girls in 3 years).

The Innovation for Women Prize will allow Tech-Innov to have a greater impact on women by installing more Digital Green Fam in order to further develop their capacities for resilience and adaptation to climate change.

Tech-Innov's Digital Green Farm is a fully automated, inclusive agricultural company that is made up of digital innovations such as Tele-Irrigation (remote control of irrigation), bio-fertilizer, auto watering, mobile weather. All these digital innovations produce data transmitted in time to farmers on their cellphones and stored in our servers. Tech-Innov's mobile application allows these producers to visualize this data and carry out predictive analyzes that can lead to a consequent decision-making in the management of their farms. Thus with this device the farmer can model, program and optimize the watering time, the quantity of water to pour, predict the harvest period, prevent the risks associated with drought, rainfall and other disasters. Thanks to Tech-Innov's artificial intelligence AI, the farmer secures his production and has powerful tools for planning his agricultural business activities.

With The AI for Humanity Prize, we intend to develop more intelligence for our IOT sensors and strengthen our research and development capacity in R&D to further provide vulnerable populations with low purchasing power with high-performance digital tools that can enable them to analyze. predictive and real-time modeling with greater ease.

Niger has a population of 21,466,862 (2017), of whom 50.1% are women and 70% are under the age of 25. The national monetary poverty rate is estimated at 45.4%. Poverty chronically affects 26.8% of the population, is multidimensional and deeply rural (52.4%). This is compounded by an unemployment rate (17%)[ that is six times higher among women (28.9%) than men (4.4%). Young people aged 15-24 account for 19.36% (of whom 50,6% are female) of the total population, more than 80% of whom live in rural areas with an estimated employment rate of 34%. The economy is dominated by agriculture (43.1 %) and the informal sector (65.7 %). In Niger, problems of access to food periodically arise in terms of insufficient production due to the phenomenon of climate change (drought, floods). 

To contribute to the mitigation of the harmful effects of these factors on the population, Tech-Innov with the collaboration of its development partners has installed more than 28 Digital Green Farms across Niger impacting the lives of more than 1,000,000 of people so that these smallholder producers and all members of vulnerable households empowered to become more resilient, attain food security and pursue sustainable livelihoods.

 With The GSR Prize we intend to amplify these actions and allow more than 2,000,000 people by the end of the year to have a sustainable means of production capable of making it resilient in the face of climate variability.