Austrian firm to install 15,000 smart weather stations for Kenyan farmers
Pessl Instruments plans to install up to 100,000 weather stations across Africa, starting with 15,000 in Kenya. The UpYield4Africa programme launched in Nairobi on Friday and will give smallholder farmers field-level weather and soil data.
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…
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