Indigenous Ghanaian agri-tech firm Sesi Technologies has launched an innovative agricultural device known as FarmSense, designed to help smallholder farmers make data-driven decisions to improve soil health, crop performance, and nutrient management.
The official launch took place on Tuesday at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) in Kumasi, led by the company’s founder and CEO, Isaac Sesi.
Speaking after the event, Isaac Sesi said the product represents years of research, collaboration, and dedication. “Over two years of hard work has culminated in the official launch of the FarmSense Soil Intelligence System at KNUST,” he stated.
According to him, FarmSense is the outcome of a collaboration between Sesi Technologies, KNUST’s Dipper Lab, and Manchester Metropolitan University under the African Agriculture Knowledge Transfer Programme (AAKTP), which is funded by Innovate UK.
“With FarmSense, our goal is to put soil intelligence in the hands of African farmers and make it easier for them to understand what’s happening in their soil,” Sesi explained. “We want farmers to know exactly what type and quantity of nutrients they need to optimise their yields.”
The FarmSense system, he said, comprises a hardware soil sensor that measures key soil parameters and a software component that merges sensor readings with data from multiple sources. “Machine learning algorithms then transform all this data into meaningful, actionable insights,” Sesi added.
Beyond the hardware and software, FarmSense also features digital tools tailored for both farmers and organisations that support smallholder farming across Africa.
The launch attracted several high-profile guests including the Deputy Minister of Food and Agriculture, John Dumelo, the Provost of the College of Engineering at KNUST, the Administrator of the Ghana National Research Fund, and representatives from the Ministry of Communication, Digital Technology and Innovation, the Ministry of Environment, Science and Technology, the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office, FSRP, RISA, and Impact Investing Ghana.
“We were also joined virtually by our UK colleagues John Clayton, Richard Lamb, Ali Bashir, and Mohammed Al-Khalidi,” Sesi noted.
He expressed gratitude to the numerous partners, funders, and supporters who contributed to the project’s success. “I want to say thank you to the UK Government and Innovate UK for providing the funding, to our collaborators at KNUST and MMU for your leadership, and to RISA for the follow-on commercialisation funding,” he said.
Sesi also acknowledged iSDA Africa, early adopters including Agrisolve, Wami Agro, Warc, AFAP, and Tradebay, as well as his board members, personal supporters, and the entire Sesi Technologies team. “A lot of good things are happening in Ghana and across African agriculture, and we’re excited to be among those driving this transformation,” he said.
He concluded with optimism about the future of the initiative, remarking, “This is just the beginning of the FarmSense journey, and we can’t wait to go further.”
Source: www.KumasiMail.Com/JosephZiem
