HOW FARMERS CAN USE TECHNOLOGY TO BOOST FARM BUSINESS PRODUCTIVITY & PROFITS (Special Interview)
FAD: Tell us briefly about yourself and Farmspeak Technology.
Peter Chukwudi Okonmah: My name is Peter Chukwudi Okonmah, and I am an agricultural and environmental engineer with a passion for solving societal problems using innovative solutions. With over five years of experience in full stack development, product development, and IoT engineering, I cofounded Farmspeak Technology, an agritech company that leverages cutting-edge technology to revolutionise African farming.
Learn MoreOur mission at Farmspeak Technology is to create an ecosystem with youth inclusion in agriculture, in line with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 1, 2, 3, 9, 13, and 17, which are essential for driving groundbreaking social and economic growth and development. We are committed to helping African poultry farmers combat climate change, improve their productivity and profitability, and make data-driven decisions using innovative hardware devices and software services.
As a technology-driven agritech company, digital agriculture forms the core of our business strategy. We manufacture and provide innovative hardware devices and software services to help African poultry farmers make data-driven decisions, combat climate change, and improve their productivity and profitability in line with the Sustainable Development Goals. Our commitment to utilising cutting-edge technology has the potential to transform the agricultural industry and create new opportunities for African farmers.
FAD: As a tech expert who has been able to create some tech solutions for the agric industry, How can farmers use technology to maximise their profits?
Peter Chukwudi Okonmah: As a tech expert who has been working in the agriculture industry, I strongly believe that technology can play a significant role in maximising farmers’ profits. Technology is an enabler.
Technology is a crucial tool in helping farmers maximise their profits by optimising their operations, boost operations, prevent wastage, leveraging data analytics to make informed decisions, improving supply chain management, and using e-commerce platforms to sell their products directly to consumers in a more convenient way.
One way farmers can do this is by using precision agriculture technologies to optimise their operations. This includes using drones, sensors, artificial intelligence and other IoT technologies to monitor crop growth, animal welfare, encourage remote monitoring, detect potential problems early on and other environmental factors. By collecting realtime data on these factors, farmers can adjust can have control of their farmers remotely.
Additionally, farmers can leverage data analytics to make informed decisions about when to plant, water, harvest crops, prepare for the next cycle, know approximately how much is required to invest by the next season, keep proper records etc. By collecting and analysing data on factors such as soil moisture levels, weather patterns, feed rate and pest infestations, farmers can make more informed decisions about how to allocate resources and increase their yields.
Another way technology can help farmers maximise their profits is by improving supply chain management. By using blockchain technology, for example, farmers can track their products from the field to the consumer, ensuring transparency and traceability. This can help reduce waste, improve product quality, and increase consumer trust in the farming industry.
Farmers can integrate cloud based recording keeping systems to record their operations, track inventory, log on historical data, keep customer base information, staff pay roll etc. This will enable them become better managers of their farm, have all informations about their operations handy and can be accessible anywhere at anytime, prevent loss of documents from unseen circumstances and even boost their credit score record.
Finally, farmers can also use e-commerce or digital platforms such as instagram, facebook, twitter etc to sell their products directly to consumers, bypassing middlemen and increasing their profit margins. By creating an online presence and leveraging social media, farmers can reach a wider audience and build a loyal customer base.
FAD: You spoke about FS Manager and FS Price, in what ways can these be of benefits or boost the profits of farmers ?
Peter Chukwudi Okonmah: As a poultry farmer myself and a tech expert who has developed solutions for the agricultural industry, I understand the challenges that farmers face in maximising their profits.
Fortunately, FarmSpeak Technology has developed some innovative tools that can help farmers boost their profits.
FS Manager and FS Price are two software applications developed by FarmSpeak Technology that can be of great benefit to farmers and can help boost their profits in several ways.
FS Manager is a farm management software built for poultry farmers to help ease the stress of record keeping, digitise their operations, manage farm records effectively, and boost their credit worthiness. It gives farmers access to all accounting features needed, help safe guard their farm information, give them the advantage of planning and making decisions ahead.
By having access to this information, farmers can optimise their operations, reduce waste, and improve efficiency, which can ultimately lead to increased profits and also be a step closer to accessing financial support from financial institutions easily.
FS Price, on the other hand, is a price prediction software that uses machine learning algorithms to predict future prices of agricultural commodities. Farmers can use this information to make informed decisions about when to sell their products, which can help them maximise their profits. By knowing when prices are likely to be high or low, farmers can make strategic decisions about when to sell their crops, allowing them to get the best possible price.
In addition to FS Manager and FS Price, FarmSpeak Technology also offers a product called PENKEEP.
PenkeepTM is an innovative hardware device that helps poultry farmers reduce poultry mortality by giving them full information of the environmental status of their poultry house. It uses intelligent sensing devices that captures environmental data like temperature, air quality, relative humidity, and sends this information to our algorithm to perform analysis on it. Within seconds, farmers gets actionable insights on your mobile phone (and laptop) instantaneously and over time. With penkeep, farmers do not have to be physically present in their
poultry house all day long because it collects and transmits these data on a 24/7 basis. Here is the most interesting part … In the case of an environmental imbalance such as too much heat or too much cold, farmers will receive an instant SMS alert on your phone, an email notification, and the buzzer will begin to sound, further more, farmers can regulate the pen environment from their phones. Penkeep also plays a vital role on the operational cost of farmers as it helps to reduce excessive burning of fossil fuels and curbs down high energy consumption cost.
FAD: How accessible are these technologies to farmers in terms of the cost implications.
Peter Chukwudi Okonmah: We are committed to making our technologies accessible to all farmers, regardless of their income levels. Our pricing strategy is designed to be competitive and reasonable, making our products affordable to as many farmers as possible.
For instance, the cost of PenkeepTM, our innovative hardware device that helps poultry farmers reduce poultry mortality, is a one-off payment of 150,000 Naira, which is a small investment when you consider the long-term benefits it provides to farmers. We understand the impact that mortality rate can have on a farmer’s profits.We have conducted extensive analysis and found that by using PenkeepTM, poultry farmers can reduce mortality rates to as low as 2%, which can translate to a significant increase in profits of up to 30% . This is because reducing mortality rates means more birds will reach the market, which can lead to more sales and profits for the farmer.
Additionally, FS Manager is a subscription-based software with a monthly payment option of 2,000 Naira or an annual payment option of 20,000 Naira, making it accessible to farmers who are budget conscious.
We understand that the upfront cost of acquiring these technologies can be a barrier for some farmers. That is why we offer flexible payment options, including instalment payments, for our hardware device,
PenkeepTM, to make it more accessible to farmers who may not be able to afford the full payment upfront. We also provide technical support, market access and user-friendly interfaces to ensure that farmers can easily use our products and services without any difficulties.
At FarmSpeak Technology, we believe that every farmer should have access to innovative technologies that can improve their operations and increase their profits. Our commitment to making our technologies affordable and accessible to farmers is a testament to this belief, and we will continue to provide innovative solutions to the agricultural sector.
FAD: No doubt you have faced challenges as a startup business. What are the greatest challenges you have experienced and how did you scale through?
Peter Chukwudi Okonmah: As a company, we faced several challenges that were inherent in our early stages of development. One of the main challenges was low adoption of our technologies by farmers. We realised that most farmers did not understand the severity of high poultry mortality rates, nor did they understand that their management practices may be contributing to the problem.
Additionally, many farmers were unaware of the existence of solutions like ours that could help mitigate the issue.
To address this challenge, we invested heavily in sensitising farmers on the importance of adopting best management practices and incorporating technology into their day-to-day operations. We even offered our management app for free to farmers for a period of one year, which helped boost our brand awareness and increased adoption rates through positive word-of-mouth referrals from satisfied customers.
Another challenge that we encountered as a startup was limited financial resources, which made it difficult for us to scale up quickly. To overcome this challenge, we adopted a creative approach to funding, including applying for grants, participating in accelerator programs, and partnering with reputable institutions who shared our vision.
Overall, these challenges have helped us grow and develop as a company. By overcoming them, we have been able to create innovative solutions that make a real difference in the lives of farmers and their communities.
Contact FarmSpeak Technology
Phone number: 08083607945
Website: https://www.farmspeak.net/
Facebook: https://web.facebook.com/FarmspeakTechnology/
LinkedIn: https://ng.linkedin.com/company/farmspeak-technology
Twitter: https://twitter.com/farmspeak1
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/farm_speak/
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