Resolving market inefficiencies and getting user adoption

Context

AITech is an agritech startup in Algeria.

The agricultural sector in Algeria is very fragmented with a few large exploitations and a lot of smallholders acting independently at the limits of the informal economy. There are still a lot of market inefficiencies along the whole value chain. Among the most notable:

• Information asymmetry
• Under optimization at all nodes
• Hardly predictable stocks
• Fluctuating prices

Solutions

AITech brings 3 different products designed for both large exploitations (owner + workers) and smallholders and directly address these market inefficiencies.

• A specific ERP designed for both targets

An ERP is an enterprise resource planning. A software that helps managers make better business decisions thanks to data and powerful algorithms. AITech built a similar tool, based on open source materials, and designed it specifically for the needs of both kinds of farmers in Algeria, with a strong emphasis on making it accessible and ergonomic for both owners and workers. It helps them anticipate their stocks with more accuracy and optimize their field exploitations by increasing yields by 30%.

• An irrigation system optimizer

AITech uses AI and algorithms to help farmers predict the most suitable time for irrigation, with the most impactful quantity. It is highly valuable as most African countries know water stress situations in some specific areas. The application combines a top down and bottom up approach to gather specific information from the farmer as well as open source data such as meteo for example. A field test has been run with the National Agency of Water Resources in different areas and has proven successful: +40% of water economy by using the solution.

• An app dedicated to prevent from diseases

Also following the same combined top down and bottom up approach, AITech develops another app to let farmers upload pictures of suspected diseases, identify the disease and get expert advice to treat it in a short time. As it is geolocalized, nearby exploitations also receive an alert and the closest store to get the right treatment. This can prove really helpful to stop the spread of devastating diseases that hurt the country’s economy at scale.

What does the tech bring on the table?