Saillog, an agritech startup venture based in Tel Aviv, Israel just launched a new product in 2017. This new product is a free smartphone app, Agrio, that takes advantage of the latest artificial intelligence technology to detect particular plant diseases and crop deficiencies in a farmer’s particular crops based on uploaded images, and provides data and insights farmers can use to help rescue their crops, according to Israeli Innovation News.
“Sometimes, we see the images [uploaded by farmers] and it’s just too late, and it affects all their fields and it’s just so upsetting. We thought that if there was a way to alert them [of the threats], it would really help them avoid yield losses,” CEO Nessi Benishti, PhD explained. “…About 30 percent of the world’s agricultural yield is lost due to improper management of crops, such as incorrect scanning, monitoring, and treating.”
“These losses occur during the crop growth stage, where disease and pest prevention is critical for optimal output,” Benishti continued.
Agrio also has a built in premium feature known as AgrioShield which alerts farmers of various diseases or pests that are affecting crops nearby so farmers can be proactive in protecting and minimizing damage to their own harvests. Currently this feature supports seven plant diseases or pest problems, alerting farmers of aphids, black sigatoka, and blight to name a few, and is continually working to update and improve their technology weekly with additional diseases or pests to better serve farmers in all parts of the world.
Saillog, which charges $2 a month for an alert and is working on developing a sliding scale pricing mechanism to better make its services affordable for farmers in the developing world, received an international award at the India Israel Global Innovation Challenge in 2018, according to Agribusiness Magazine. The prime ministers of both India and Israel were present at the time.
Benishti said of the event, “It is a great honor to be recognized by the Indian and Israeli governments. We at Saillog seek to continue being a part of ending global food insecurity and hope this achievement brings us closer to farmers worldwide.”
Written by Erin Parfet
