A project led by Nomadesoft (La case solaire)
Nomadesoft/La case solaire is a Senegalese start-up created in 2017 that works on agro-ecology issues. Their products and service offerings cover soil fertility and texture, smart irrigation, accounting, ... through virtual trainings, podcasts, a smart assistant for Senegalese farmers to support its migration process to agro-ecology in their national languages.
“Our intelligent solar water pump automates irrigation and farmers can control the pump via a smartphone app. Our business model is based on social franchising and employs young, local people. In addition, our pay-as-you-can system takes into account the seasonality of farmers’ revenue streams enabling easier investment for them” says Momar Fall, CEO and Project Lead at Nomadesoft.
Context
Many irrigation systems in Africa function with fossil fuels. The Smart Farming Assistant developed by the start-up Nomadesoft, provides farmers with clean, smart and more economic irrigation systems. Farmers in Senegal, who today practice "conventional" agriculture, have a low level of digital inclusion, and the aim is to switch to ecological agriculture thanks to this solution.
Objectives
• Better manage demand, integrate more renewable energy and make up for lost energy on the grid.
• Empowering and adapting small-scale producers and people at the bottom of the pyramid by giving them the means to be key actors of change.
Activities
- To offer an educational and integrated application in terms of support to the daily activity of local farmers.
- The app also offers advice on agricultural matters through podcasts and videos.
Impacts
With already 25 franchisees trained on the installation and maintenance of the solar pumps and good agricultural practice, the replicability of the business model will facilitate the scale up of the project across other regions in the country.
