AirSmat has announced a partnership with Sterling Bank to enable farmers increase their output by leveraging quality farm data and AI-generated recommendations.
In the partnership, AirSmat would deliver enabling technology capabilities for Sterling Bank to monitor farm activities throughout the planting season and help farmers improve their productivity and secure the supply chain of the future.
In a statement released by the company, AirSmat with its technology would deliver unique agronomic insights alongside remarkable acre-by-acre to drive efficiency in farm activities reporting for Sterling Bank and farmers that are direct customers of the bank.
Sterling Bank’s team of experts would access the farm data through AirSmat’s in-house-built application, FarmManager, to deliver valuable insights to the bank’s Agric Desk team, stakeholders, and shareholders.
AirSmat CEO & Co-founder, Soji Sanyaolu stated, “With drone and satellite technology, soil-level, and IoT sensors, we are helping to transform the way farmers and other stakeholders in the value chain collect, manage, and interpret farm data.
“We are helping farm owners and farmers across Nigeria to eliminate guesswork and drive day-to-day farm operations decisions with precision.”
He further explained that “…precise, accurate farm data enables everyone in the value chain, such as banks and insurance companies, make data-driven decisions to support farmers and growers with loans and insurance cover.”
In a recent statement, Group Head of Agricultural Finance and Solid Minerals at Sterling Bank, Dr. Olushola Obikanye, had stated: “If the bank wants farmers to be able to repay loans taken, the bank needs to have a presence in their immediate communities for effective monitoring and coordination of farming activities; this partnership was created to create a strategic partnership that would, among other things, enable Sterling Bank to fulfill its commitment to its shareholders.”
According to Sterling Bank’s CEO, Abubakar Suleiman, “It is difficult to operate in a country and ignore a sector like agriculture that accounts for so much employment and adds so much output to the country’s gross domestic product.
“At the end of the day, the country’s development starts with agriculture. Apart from the raw materials that come from there, the country must be able to provide food to feed the people and provide the input required for mechanisation and manufacturing to take place. To a large extent, I can’t imagine a better place to start to focus if not agriculture.”
The AirSmat team was excited to support Sterling Bank on its mission to make quality food available across Africa and ensure the sustainability and empowerment of growers with the best-in-class technology to increase yield. In this partnership, Sterling has made commitments to its growers, customers, and stakeholders. Furthermore, AirSmat will continue to use its technology to demonstrate that farmers’ success, economic empowerment, and sustainable practices go together to grow food production to attain self-sufficiency in Africa.
