Eight Orbit Urban Farms (EOUF), a research-based farming business, has disclosed plans to build a high-tech indoor farm in Africa.
Also, the firm plans to use AI to revolutionize agriculture in Nigeria and beyond, according to Christina Igono a research scientist based in the United States and founder of EOUF.
The organisation is a pioneering controlled environment agriculture startup dedicated to year-round farming of sustainable crops like tomatoes, pepper, fruits, leafy vegetables, and staple foods using cutting-edge hydroponic and aeroponic technologies.
The organisation is on a mission to solve the dire food security challenges in Africa, through the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Nutrient Film Techniques (NFT). As the global population increase, the demand for food increases.
Africa is the fastest growing population globally and for many decades have been dealing with food security challenges that leads to famine because of poor traditional farming system, ecological challenges, and seasonality in crop production.
The high dependency on seasonal crop production in traditional farming systems and importation to supplement during “off-season” has led to shortage in production and supply, unbearable increase in prices, and food shortage at large.
“Eight Orbit Urban Farms is bringing a permanent solution to these decades-long problems through the use of technology.
“We are behind the western countries like the United States and the Netherlands in the use of innovative technologies like AI for sustainable and year-round crop production, supply to meet growing demands for food, local and global distribution of farm produce,” Igono said.
EOUF innovative technologies will not only have year-round crop production, but use 95 percent less water and resources, produce 100 percent organic and healthy crops with zero herbicide and pesticides usage, zero carbon emission, and low-cost energy sources to promote efficiency and productivity.
“Unless we solve our food insecurity crisis in Nigeria and Africa at large, we would continue to depend on low-graded and poorly cultivated imported crops, with inflated prices,” added Valentine Mbamalu, the company’s executive director.
The agricultural technology (AgTech) industry is currently valued at 24.3 billion dollars and it is projected to be around $50 billion in 2030.
The emerging startup company is slated to develop their innovative AI-engineered indoor farms on a 20-acre of land in Epe Lagos state and on a 13-acre of land in Kuje Abuja respectively.
Private and public investment in EOUF will not only lead to the creation of thousands of jobs in Africa, but promote substantial economic growth in the continent. EOUF has taken up the responsibility of revolutionizing Africa’s agricultural industry one city at the time.
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