What is the name of your organization?
Arinifu Technologies Ltd
What is the name of your solution?
Poultry Smart Brooder
Provide a one-line summary or tagline for your solution.
Smart Brooder is an AI powered IoT digital mother hen that transitions farmers from fossil fuel based heating to automated, clean heating solutions
In what city, town, or region is your solution team headquartered?
Nairobi, Kenya
In what country is your solution team headquartered?
Kenya
What type of organization is your solution team?
For-profit, including B-Corp or similar models
Film your elevator pitch.
What specific problem are you solving?
For young chicks, heat is more important than feed. In Africa, traditional methods of charcoal heating and visual chick monitoring remain prevalent, mainly due to limited alternatives. While elsewhere, advanced environmental controllers paired with diesel and LPG heaters are adopted, they are typically designed for large scale operations and often come with a hefty price tag.
Most Sub-Saharan chicken farmers understand the need for heat, but most rely on charcoal which is reliant on tree felling and carbonization. Charcoal is in high demand and a a country like Kenya has 7% tree cover well below the 10% recommended cover. The issue with charcoal is that heat dissipates with time, requiring constant visual monitoring of how close or far away chicks are from the stove to determine their thermal comfort. For most farmers, especially young ones, this can often seem like guesswork with the end result being high chick mortality and massive financial losses. Mess up slightly and you can loose 99% of chicks from carbon monoxide poisoning from the charcoal.
What is your solution?
Smart Brooder is a solar powered IoT poultry energy management system that essentially is a digital mother hen. It automates climate control in chicken houses by adjusting temperature, humidity, and air quality conditions based on changes in chick age, breed specifications, and real time weather conditions. For instance, during heatwaves, it reduces heating and increases ventilation to prevent heat stress, while in cold spells, it optimizes heating to maintain the ideal environment for chick growth. By replacing traditional charcoal heating with clean energy sources like solar, electricity, and biogas, it cuts chick mortality by 50% from the Kenyan national average and reduces heating costs by 15%, ensuring healthier flocks and higher farmer earnings. It sends alerts on overuns by SMS or our mobile application. Kuku Smart, enables farmers to collect data on inputs used in chicken production. We leverage this data, along with information from our sensors and Ai pattern recognition, to provide timely insights aimed at enhancing productivity. This analysis takes into account environmental data, feed, and water data to facilitate quick responses to stressors.
Who does your solution serve, and in what ways will the solution impact their lives?
We are working to improve the lives of small and medium scale poultry farmers across Sub Saharan Africa totalling in excess of 10 million farms. These farmers, 70% of whom are women are often excluded from mainstream agricultural innovations, as most technologies are built for large scale industrial poultry operations in the Western world and Asia.
Unlike conventional sub saharan traditional methods reliant on visual cues on chick proximity to heaters( if they are close to heaters they feel too cold and if further away from heaters they feel too warm), we automate farm management using real time data, reducing chick mortality by 50% from the Kenyan nationl average, reducing heating costs by 15%, improving poultry health and comfort leading to 25% increased profitability.. By integrating clean energy options and supporting climate resilience, our solution empowers farmers to adapt to extreme weather conditions, ensuring local food security.
