Greenseeder Hand Planter - Increasing the Productivity and Livelihood of Small Holder Farmers in Nigeria.

The GreenSeeder is a hand-planting device developed by Oklahoma State University in Stillwater, Oklahoma.  The tool was developed for farmers in the third-world, who are farming on marginal lands. The GreenSeeder is effective for planting corn and other large seeded vegetable crops like beans and other round seeded varieties.  The equipment helps smallholder farmers by decreasing the effort of planting and treated seeds to skin contact for farmers.

Zerofly...Insecticide Incorporated Polypropylene Storage Bag

ZeroFly Hermetic Storage Bag is the first insecticide-incorporated storage bag to prevent damaging pest infestations. It reduces the loss of seed or grains that can be consumed, stored, or sold for optimized prices. The storage bag works by establishing a long lasting insecticidal around the bagged commodities. When pest come in contact with the bag in an attempt to reach the stored commodities, they get a lethal dose of the insecticide and are killed.

Cowlar….Smart Neck Collars for Dairy Cows

Dairy cows are often vulnerable to health problems which in turn lower their milk yield, reduce milk quality and affects the stability of the reproductive systems.  Cowlar is a cow monitoring system that facilitates an increase in milk yield while improving the herd's health and ultimately maximizing profitability. Cowlar assists with tracking the cow's core temperature, real-time activity and behavior of each individual cow, allowing farmers to detect when the animal is in heat and determine the best time for insemination.

Cowlar offers what has been called a 'FitBit for cows' which allows farmers to track their cows in new and innovative ways.

Cowlar units are non-invasive collars with attached smart sensors. Each collar retains a charge for six months, and is completely waterproof.

CropX…Grow more, Water less

In drought, saving water in any way possible is crucial. Farmers have to find a way to toe the line between saving water and keeping their crops alive. And since so much of the farming process has become automated, it’s likely that each part of a farmer’s field will get the same amount of water, whether that amount of water is actually necessary or not.

CropX is a new agriculture technology company that is looking to solve that problem. The company sells smart sensors, which can tell farmers which parts of their fields actually need water at any given time.

SUREHATCH…..Unique Incubation Technology for Africa

It is common knowledge that the supply of day old chicks is very limited and unreliable. African poultry industry is characterized by few hatcheries and abundant small holder poultry farmers. These farmers demand day-old-chicks from the limited hatcheries thereby making demand for day old chicks to surpass supply. SUREHATCH has now made it possible for farmers to produce their own reliable supply of chickens both for personal consumption and for resale.

SUREHATCH, a South African company, manufactures egg incubators including small-scale models specifically for smallholder use. The incubators are turn-key solution and enable a poultry farmer to hatch and grow his own chickens without having to rely on suppliers of day-old chicks. Using the incubator can increase hatch rates tenfold over traditional practices.

Flowhive...Revolutionary Honey Extraction System

Beekeeping or apiculture is the breeding of honeybees and maintenance of beehives for their honey and other products that the hive produces. Honey has several health benefits which include preventing cancer and heart disease, reducing ulcer and other gastrointestinal disorders, blood sugar regulation, strengthening the immune system etc., but despite these benefits, honey collection from beehives remains a daunting exercise as it involves tedious processes like suiting up, smoking the bees, cracking the hive open, lifting out the frames, sweeping off the bees, transporting the frames to honey shed etc., and these comes with high safety hazards such as stings from bees, burns from smoking etc.

Preventing Crop Loss through Purdue Improved Crop Storage (PICS) Bags

The Purdue Improved Crop Storage (PICS) bag provides low-cost, hermetic grain-storage bags that prevent pest damage during crop storage without having to use chemicals. These bags allow farmers to consume or sell crops later in the season when prices might be higher, increasing food security and offering a healthier alternative to chemical pesticide.  When using PICS bags, farmers no longer need chemicals to control grain storage pests. PICS bag was developed by Purdue University and supported by USAID and Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

PICS bags was formerly Purdue Improved Cowpea Storage bags (PICS 1) which was originally meant to provide a simple, low-cost method of reducing post-harvest cowpea (Vigna unguiculata) losses due to bruchid infestations in West and Central Africa.  

Irrigating Africa with Sunflower Solar Irrigation

In sub-Saharan Africa, access to irrigation is a major limit in agriculture. Only 7% of the total cultivated area of 183 million hectares in Africa is irrigated compared to 41% in Asia. This is by far the lowest proportion of irrigation anywhere in the world.

There are about 500 million one-acre farmers around the world and about half of them are in Africa. Crop production in Africa is rain-fed and since rainfall has become very unpredictable due to climate change, farm productivity is on decline as small scale farmers cannot afford the labour intensive manual irrigation or the expensive fuel powered irrigation pumps.

Trimble GreenSeeker Handheld Crop Sensor

The Trimble GreenSeeker handheld crop sensor is a simple farm management tool that can be used to assess the heath or vigour of a crop in order to make better nutrient management decisions on your farm. The GreenSeeker crop sensing system helps farmers to effectively and precisely manage crop inputs on the go by applying the right amount of fertilizer, in the right place, at the right time.

The GreenSeeker instantly take readings of crop’s health. Readings can be used to make non-subjective decisions regarding the amount of fertilizer to be applied to your crop, resulting in more efficient use of fertilizer—a benefit to the farmer and the environment.

Minimizing the effect of Tuta absoluta in Nigeria through Tray and Lamp Technology

Tuta absoluta is a larva of moth known by the common names tomato leaf-miner and South American tomato moth. The pest (Tuta absoluta) was discovered in South America in 1912 where it ravaged many farms before it spread to Europe and then to Asia and now to East and West Africa.

The larva feeds voraciously upon tomato plants, producing large galleries in leaves, burrowing in stalks, and consuming apical buds and green and ripe fruits. It is capable of causing a yield loss of 100%.

It has the ability to destroy a whole tomato farm within 48 hours. It is also very difficult to control as it has a high mutation capacity with the ability to develop a resistance to insecticides.