Austrian agricultural technology company Pessl Instruments will install 15,000 smart weather stations in Kenya. The rollout is part of a plan to install up to 100,000 devices across Africa, The Star and The Standard reported. The programme, called UpYield4Africa, launched in Nairobi on Friday. It will run under the company's METOS brand.
The stations will measure rainfall, temperature, humidity, soil moisture and leaf wetness in individual fields. The data will feed into Pessl's FieldClimate platform. Farmers can then access local forecasts and crop disease models through online and mobile apps. According to The Star, the information is meant to guide decisions on planting, irrigation, fertiliser use and pest control. It should also help farmers prepare for extreme weather.
AgriMet Data Kenya, a Kenyan firm, will be the local partner. It will handle distribution, installation and maintenance of the stations. It will also provide farmer training and technical support. Pessl Instruments founder and chief executive Gottfried Pessl said that smallholder farmers need reliable, local information throughout the farming cycle. He said field measurements, forecasts and disease models would help farmers anticipate risks and raise productivity.
Austrian Ambassador to Kenya Simone Knapp said the programme reflected growing cooperation between Kenya and Austria on farming technology. She said real-time weather information would help farmers anticipate changing conditions and manage crop diseases, The Star reported.
The programme goes beyond weather monitoring. Farmers will be organised into production clusters supported by Digital Farm Advisors. These advisers will turn the data into practical advice. They will also help farmers choose inputs and match output to the needs of commercial buyers. The model targets fragmented production, weak extension services, limited access to credit and difficulty supplying formal markets.
The initiative is also exploring financing from Austrian institutions together with a Kenyan bank. Money would flow through a cluster company or produce buyer. This is meant to ease pressure on individual farmers to put up land or personal assets as collateral. The Star reported that the structure still needs lender due diligence and approvals, including from Austria's OeKB. It added that KCB's participation remains provisional and final terms have not been agreed.
Safaricom, Bayer Crop Science, Lindsay, HZPC and Viazi, X Green Capital, FreshCrop Limited and SAI Platform attended the launch. Pessl Instruments was founded in 1984 and is based in Weiz, Austria. It operates in 85 countries.