Malawi - Startup under 3 years old

Describe your project or startup in a few words

Delta Farming Systems is a startup business in Malawi that is developing Precision Irrigation Equipment enhanced using Machine Learning and farm management software wirelessly through the web.

01.01 Describe your startup in more detail

Delta Farming Systems specializes in developing IoT systems that will be integrated into precision irrigation methods such as drip and sprinkler setups to enhance the efficiency of these systems by using Machine Learning to adapt to farm specific requirements. To break the technological barrier between Delta Farming Systems and the end users which are smallholder farmers with 2-5 hectares of land or more, or large scale commercial farms, an AI powered (Large Language Model) is being used to create a user-friendly abstraction layer between farmers and the technical hardware. This is will be provided in the form of a localized farm management application on web or mobile.

01.02 What is the main problem you are trying to solve?

Delta Farming Systems aims to address the declining productivity of the Malawian food production system which is mostly characterized by smallholder farmers producing crops such as cereals and legumes once per growing season and continuously season in and out on the same pieces of land. This has created several issues including loss of productivity per genetic potential of high quality seed, loss of soil fertility due to production stress from the growing demand and limited growing time-frame due to inefficiency of current irrigation hardware at small scale. To compound all this, rapid climate change as well as the time lag between latest research from agricultural institutions means farmers cannot address challenges that are unique efficiently.

01.03 Tell us the major benefits and/or advantages of using the product/service that your startup provides (at least 3).

Our Precision Irrigation Equipment (PIE) has the following advantages: 1; Farmers have access to finely tunned and controlled irrigation setups that can automatically adjust to weather and field conditions, crop water requirements at different growing phases and water availability rationing. 2; Farmers can monitor and have access to their farms in real-time with remote monitoring as well as having access to records of past production and use analytics to thus compare different production variables that can aid in decision making. This includes remote collaboration among all involved parties. 3; Farmers have access to user-friendly control interfaces in the farm management software that, with the help of a large language model, can understand natural language prompts in the form of a farm-assistant-chatbot.

01.04 Please describe who exactly your startup’s product/service is aimed at serving. Who are the targeted beneficiaries?

Our PIE equipment and services are mainly targeted to around 5600 medium to large-scale smallholder farmers specializing in food production with 2-5 ha of land or more. Commercial farms are also part of the premium customer segment due to the scale of the farms.

01.05 When was your company established?

2023-12-04

01.06 Are you already selling your product/service?

No

01.07 How many other owners are there within your startup?

3

01.08 Among the other owners, how many are female?

1

01.09 Please describe the profile of the other owners within your startup (skills, experience, etc.)

1; Neister Mbuzi, Female, Networking Engineer, Extensive skills on network design and IoT system integration. 2; Suman Adams, Male, Agroforestry (BSc), Extensive knowledge and expertise in sustainable agriculture and agroforestry applications, skilled in extension research as well as knowledgeable in IoT systems. 3; Aime Francis, Male, Mechanical Engineer, extensive skills in computer aided design and digital manufacturing. 4; Landirani Mkonjo, Agriculture General (BSc), extensive skills in IoT systems development and electronic system design and prototyping, extensive knowledge in agricultural production and agricultural engineering.

01.10 If you have a website, a social media page (Facebook, Instagram, Linkedin…), or app, please provide the link(s) here:

01.11 Which industry best describes your project?

h) IT (digital services, equipment and software)

02.01.01 My startup contributes to the No poverty goal

6

02.01.02 No poverty - Justification for my startup

Our startup's mission is to enable smallholder farmers to significantly increase their crop production productivity by allowing them to grow more than once per season as efficiently as possible leading to more sales volume and subsequent income flow as consistently as possible.

02.02.01 My startup contributes to the Zero hunger goal

7 - Strongly Agree

02.02.02 Zero hunger - Justification for my startup

With ramped up productivity, our startup will significantly contribute to narrowing the food security gap in the country and beyond by allowing more farmers to produce more than they were previously able to on the same pieces of land. The farm management services will also allow farmers to have access to distilled research information that can address their unique challenges to production.

02.03.01 My startup contributes to the Good health and well-being goal

5

02.03.02 Good health and well-being - Justification for my startup

Although Good health hand well-being is a multifactorial issue, our startup contributes to less incidence of malnutrition due to the increased productivity which should allow for easier access to food especially among low income communities.

02.04.01 My startup contributes to the Quality education goal

5

02.04.02 Quality education - Justification for my startup

Although our services do are not explicitly aimed at education, the component of making the latest as well as most open research available in a highly customized form for easy uptake by ordinary farmers can be considered a significant component of agricultural education to our end users.

02.05.01 My startup contributes to the Gender equality goal

5

02.05.02 Gender equality - Justification for my startup

Our startup believes in harnessing the potential of both women and men equally. As such, our team is comprised of highly talented females that help us in inspiring other women to tap into their potential and enter an industry that is currently characterized by male dominance in achievements.

02.06.01 My startup contributes to the Clean water and sanitation goal

5

02.06.02 Clean water and sanitation - Justification for my startup

One of the features of our PIE equipment is to monitor water quality for use in irrigation. However, we also realise that this kind of data can be utilized to paint a picture of water quality for general human use as well with just minor additions. As such, one of the services that we aim to provide is to map water qaulity in locations where our systems are installed and provide a basic picture of real-time water tables of particular locations as well as safe drinking sites and compromised sites that can then be targets for further external development by other agencies.

02.07.01 My startup contributes to the Affordable and clean energy goal

3

02.07.02 Affordable and clean energy - Justification for my startup

02.08.01 My startup contributes to the Decent work and economic growth

5

02.08.02 Decent work and economic growth - Justification for my startup

Our startup aims to boost agricultural productivity beyond what is currently capable on the existing resources. Therefore, this slight increase will allow the creation of more niche markets such as fully organic product markets that can benefit greatly from the high precision and level of production control our systems provide as well as generally expanding existing markets. this in combination with other sectors such as food processing will increase economic growth steadily.

02.09.01 My startup contributes to the Industry innovation and infrastructure

7 - Strongly Agree

02.09.02 Industry innovation and infrastructure - Justification for my startup

Although irrigation is not a new concept/practice in the country, our aim is to radicalize the agricultural industry by introducing Artificial Intelligence in this sector as well to boost performance just as it has proven to accelerate growth in other sectors/industries all over the world. With this innovative approach to how we irrigate, we hope to reap the "exponential" benefits that our technologies promise to bring.

02.10.01 My startup contributes to the Reduced inequalities goal

4

02.10.02 Reduced inequalities - Justification for my startup

02.11.01 My startup contributes to the Sustainable cities and communities goal

6

02.11.02 Sustainable cities and communities - Justification for my startup

We're excited to see "Sustainability" get adopted as part of our daily lives by demonstrating that sustainability equals efficiency and efficiency translates to more productivity regardless of the context. Therefore, by practically demonstrating to skeptical farmers that it is possible to have more output without wastefully expending inputs, we hope to normalize "sustainability" as part of our culture and thinking, eventually leading to application in other contexts as well.

02.12.01 My startup contributes to the Responsible consumption and production goal

7 - Strongly Agree

02.12.02 Responsible consumption and production - Justification for my startup

This goal aligns perfectly with our development philosophy at Delta Farming Systems. Our solutions are always targeted at efficiency and delivering the best of what technology has to offer without leaving a large footprint in terms of resource utilization as well as continuity of our solutions.

02.13.01 My startup contributes to the Climate action goal

7 - Strongly Agree

02.13.02 Climate action - Justification for my startup

One of the main reasons for the development of our enhanced Precision Irrigation Equipment was because of the rapidly changing climate. Our natural or conventional means of production could not keep up with the rate of climate change leading to discouraging production results even with the best certified seed and commercial fertilizer. Our comeback to these climate specific issues is using the tremendous power of Machine learning coupled with real-time data from on-farm and other climate sources to better predict climate shifts and prepare farmers before production or by adapting during production to save the crops.

02.14.01 My startup contributes to the Life below water goal

5

02.14.02 Life below water - Justification for my startup

Efficient use of water for irrigation means less stress on our water sources, enabling life under water to co-exist with our farming needs and demands. This is what our Precision Irrigation Equipment and services are meant to boost.

02.15.01 My startup contributes to the Life on land goal

4

02.15.02 Life on land - Justification for my startup

02.16.01 My startup contributes to the Peace Justice and Strong Institutions goal

2

02.16.02 Peace Justice and Strong Institutions- Justification for my startup

02.17.01 My startup contributes to the Partnerships for the goal

5

02.17.02 Partnerships for the goal - Justification for my startup

Our services model is significantly reliant on various collaborations for example with weather and climate change institution as well as agricultural research institution such as the Lilongwe University of Agriculture and Natural Resources to implement our solution.

06.01 There are a large number of customers who already use a product/service very similar to the product/service we envision creating.

3

06.02 The product/service represents an entirely new type of product/service.

1 - Strongly Disagree

06.03 The product/service could be described as a new technology.

3

06.04 The product/service is an improvement on an existing product or service.

7 - Strongly Agree

06.05 The product/service could be described as an extension of a range of products or services.

5

06.06 The product/service responds to a demand or need that has not been satisfied by other products/services.

4

06.07 The product/service is a new version of an old product/service.

7 - Strongly Agree

06.08 Justification for my startup

While precision irrigation is not a new concept , Our innovative approach to use the latest technology such as Machine Learning and generative AI in combination with our automated IoT systems to enhance the level of precision, control and water use efficiency in our precision irrigation equipment is certainly the first of its kind. We believe in harnessing the great potential that AI tools bring to the table for agriculture.

06.09 Competitive Analysis

Our main competitors are really international companies and teams such as Netafirm which have advanced large scale PIE systems but are Israeli based in the case of Netafirm. Locally however, we are one of the very few offering advanced automated Precision Irrigation Equipment, our main local competition being suppliers of ordinary PIEs that lack most of the IoT and Software advantages.

11.05 Are you initiating actions within your community to promote the role of female entrepreneurs?