Stage of Innovation: Prototype (You have a working physical product)

Problem: The contention between agriculture & climate change has remained an agelong problem. Agriculture contributes to climate change by the anthropogenic emissions of greenhouse gases & by the conversion of non-agricultural land such as forests to agricultural land. However, Climate change affects Agricultural production adversely. Right now, our soils, freshwater, oceans, forests, & biodiversity are being rapidly degraded. Climate change is putting even more pressure on the resources we depend on, increasing risks associated with disasters such as droughts & floods. Many rural people can no longer make ends meet on their land, forcing them to migrate to cities in search of opportunities. The protein deficit in Nigeria for fish, poultry meat, & eggs is estimated to be at about $8.7 billion as of 2020. Unfortunately, local farmers have only been able to cater for about 30% of the nation’s demand all because traditional agriculture is influenced largely by climate change amongst other factors. Boosting Agriculture will require deforestation and several actions that will further increase climate change and global warming; hence we need a system of food production that integrates Climate Action to promote sustainable food production while ensuring higher efficiency in food production. Therefore, we designed our smart urban farming systems that maximize land space to ensure deforestation will no longer be a pre-requisite for agricultural production. Farming can be carried out right beside our homes with thrice as much yield as the traditional farming method. Our smart urban farming systems are targeted towards promoting urban farming in urban households. Unicef publicly declared that nearly 25 million Nigerians are at risk of facing hunger between June and August 2023 (lean season) if urgent action is not taken. Climate Change and Food insecurity are two major issues needing urgent intervention and now is the best time to address this problem.

Unique Selling Point: Agrisiti is a smart-farming company promoting sustainable farming which integrates Climate Action in Agriculture. We achieve this through designing digitalized farming ecosystems starting with its flagship product, Sap-sys (Smart Agri-pyramid system), which is the first ever food production system in Africa that allows the simultaneous production of poultry, fish & vegetables with less space, less water & zero soil. To meet the growing demand of protein food without further increase in climate change, we need a new system of farming that minimizes the use of land, water, & resources. At Agrisiti, we are proposing climate-positive actions by introducing a smarter & efficient way of producing food which saves 90% water & 50% land while increasing production efficiency per area by 300% compared to the traditional agriculture. A variant which is the micro requires 4,000 liters of water per time to run the system, while the traditional system with same capacity and input will require a constant change of water to accommodate the fishes and this will require an average of 28,000 to 56,000 liters every two weeks. However, in the case of our micro system due to self-recycling it requires an average of 4,000 to 8,000 liters every two weeks to run with the same capacity and more comfortable condition for the fishes. In addition, the system further ensures the conversion of Ammonia to Nitrate which are used by plants that requires zero soil to grow. The system having a first mover advantage and being novel comes in 5 variants as regards sizes, Nano, micro, mini, midi & maxi which ensures it fits various backyard sizes & allow for urban farming among families. We also install our systems in schools to train young students on urban farming, we designed a unique curriculum already endorsed by the ministry of agriculture and the ministry of education, Lagos state, Nigeria. The practical training via the curriculum promotes youth involvement in agriculture and youth empowerment. Although the practice of simultaneously cultivating poultry, fish, and vegetables exists in many Asian countries, there are currently very few practitioners of large-scale vertical farming systems (specifically aquaponics and hydroponics) in Nigeria. Considering our unique product design, this presents a first-mover advantage opportunity for us to hit the Nigerian market. All our competitors mainly practice only hydroponics (cultivation of plants without soil) and a little of aquaponics (symbiotic cultivation of fish and plants without soil), whereas we combine poultry, aquaculture, and hydroponics in a single compact system. Unlike our competitors who thrive on the sales of the food produce from their vertical farming systems, we operate a model that provides everyday people with the portable food production systems needed to grow their own foods on their terms.