Smart irrigation for a sustainable agriculture

In 2018, Societe Generale supported the third edition of the  RFI Challenge App Africa competition, which aimed to promote the integration of new technologies in the field of sustainable development in French-speaking Africa.

Erik Gyslain Tiam Dzembouong, specializing in electrical engineering and CEO and founder of Global Energy Solutions, won the second prize for its AgroPad project. Therefore, the Innovation lab in Dakar has helped the Cameroonian start-up to implement its full prototype.

AgroPad develops a technological device allowing farmers to irrigate their land remotely by simply sending a text message at any time and regardless of their geographical position. The service neither relies on telephone operators nor network coverage and makes it possible allows a smart water distribution management in terms of needs, quantity and time.

The app also offers a real-time weather report, providing users with information on temperature, solar radiation, wind speed and rainfall, therefore allowing farmers to adapt irrigation on their land.

In a continent where water and sunlight are under exploited but where the penetration rate of mobile phones is high, AgroPad offers to synchronize these natural and technological assets in order to bring a solution to the irrigation issues Africa is currently facing.