Challenges

Many smallholder and medium-sized farmers face difficulties in ensuring suitable climate conditions for the growth of crops inside greenhouses. This can trigger an increase in pests which can cause damage to crops.

Random (not calculated) irrigation leads to the usage of excess water and energy to grow plants, and thus, extra expenses for the farmers. In addition, the difficulties of determining the appropriate type of soil for each crop and the type of environmentally friendly fertilizer needed may affect negatively on the quality of the crops.

Iraq faces a lack of service companies (public or private) that offer tools, technologies, and technical advisory services to help farmers to move from traditional to modern farming.

Solutions

Green Shovel offers smart, artificial intelligence (AI) control and monitoring systems for greenhouses, alongside smart water pumping/irrigation systems for farmers. These systems can be automated or connected/integrated with sensors in the field. The sensors are equipped to measure the pH, temperature, soil saturation, and air humidity, and send the readings to the “controller” component of the system that initiates a certain desired function. The system ensures higher productivity while using less resources, including water and energy.

Green Shovel also offers advisory services to farmers that want to purchase/install greenhouses to complement their smart agri-solution.