Vodafone is using IoT-powered sensors and weather stations to help farmers in Albania boost yields and cut costs with predictive insights.

Farmers in Albania, as elsewhere, face significant challenges when it comes to improving crop yields and reducing costs while complying with environmental and food safety standards.

Lack of information about current and forecasted weather conditions can result in lower yields, product loss and an inability to plan fieldwork. Inadequate plant monitoring can lead to crop damage or the overuse of pesticides and fertilisers, while uncertainty about the conditions that cause plant diseases reduce the effectiveness of crop interventions.

To solve these problems, Vodafone (iot.vodafone.com) has developed a Smart Agro product based on IoT technology and data connectivity. It uses a network of localised weather stations and soil sensors to provide farmers with granular real-time data and insights so they can optimise their operations.

The weather stations collect a variety of data every hour, including air temperature, humidity, wind speed and direction, rainfall, solar radiation, and plant transpiration. Meanwhile, sensors placed underground measure soil temperature, moisture and salinity.

This information is sent for analysis via Vodafone’s low power, deep-penetrating NB-IoT network, which allows the devices to run on solar power and batteries, making it suitable for remote locations.

The analysis results are delivered via Vodafone Albania’s platform and are presented through easy-to-understand notifications, reports and maps accessible on laptops, tablets or smartphones. With a predictive accuracy of 92%, Smart Agro provides farmers with a comprehensive view of plant nutrition, soil moisture, disease risk and local weather forecasts up to 14 days in advance.

Armed with these insights, farmers can make more informed decisions about ploughing, sowing, planting, irrigation, spraying and harvesting to boost production and conserve resources.

By improving the quality and quantity of yields – while optimising field work and reducing labour costs – farmers can achieve efficiency improvements of up to 15%. By rationalising pesticide and fertiliser applications, they can also reduce the use of chemicals by up to 30%.