THE CHALLENGE
SmartCane's clients face challenges in the sugarcane production industry. Farmers struggle to increase yields and income, hindered by limited access to reliable agricultural information and the difficulties of monitoring crops. Meanwhile, estates seek to improve field management, often limited by the cost of training farmers and the challenges of monitoring crops from afar. These pain points limit the potential of the industry and leave both farmers and estates seeking solutions to improve yield and make the best use of limited resources.
THE SOLUTION
SmartCane offers a solution to the challenges faced by sugarcane estates and farmers by providing remote sensing technology-based crop and management advice. This revolutionary solution transforms the way sugarcane producers make decisions about field activities, time, and the use of limited resources like fertilisers, water, and labour. With SmartCane, farmers no longer have to rely on intuition or monitor fields haphazardly. Instead, they receive affordable, easy-to-use and multi-purpose advice through daily SMS messages and simple-to-use weekly overview maps in a phone-friendly pdf format. This leads to improved productivity and crop yield, while the overview maps provide a clear picture of growth and heterogeneity, allowing estates to effectively monitor and predict growth across their fields.
THE IMPACT
SmartCane is revolutionizing the way smallholder farmers in Mozambique approach sugarcane production by bringing RS-based information and advice to their fingertips. With its innovative solution, the foreseen impact of the service is threefold. Firstly, smallholder farmers will experience a boost in their production, as they are empowered to make more informed decisions based on the information provided by SmartCane. Secondly, outgrower modalities will be improved, as the delivery and impact of extension services will be increased through the integration of SmartCane's technology. Lastly, the planning and management of sugarcane load scheduling to the factory will improve, ensuring a more efficient and streamlined process for everyone involved. The underlying aim of SmartCane is to make industrial-level information and advice available to smallholder farmers, empowering them to maximize yields and improve sustainability.