Austrian agricultural tech firm, Pessl Instruments, is set to deploy up to 100,000 Internet of Things (IoT)-enabled weather stations across Africa, starting with an initial rollout of 15,000 units in Kenya.

Known as UpYield4Africa, the unified weather stations are expected to boost smallholder farmers’ productivity, strengthen their climate resilience, and open up better access to agricultural markets.

The data will be transmitted to FieldClimate, the company’s digital platform, where farmers can access weather forecasts, crop disease models and other agricultural insights through online and mobile applications.

According to Pessl Instruments founder and chief executive Gottfried Pessl, the fresh tech would help farmers move from heavily relying on traditional weather patterns to making informed decisions based on accurate, location-specific data.

“Smallholder farmers need reliable, localised information to make better decisions throughout the farming cycle. By combining field-level measurements with weather forecasts and disease models, we can help farmers anticipate risks, improve resource utilisation and increase productivity,” said Mr Pessl.

The smart stations, developed under Pessl Instruments’ METOS brand, will collect practical field data including rainfall, temperature, humidity, soil moisture, and leaf wetness. This data is expected to supports critical decisions regarding irrigation, planting schedules, fertilizer application, pest management, and extreme weather preparation.

Pessl Instruments will work with AgriMet Data Kenya as its local implementation partner. The company will support the distribution, installation and maintenance of the weather stations, alongside farmer training and customer support.

Austrian Ambassador to Kenya, Dr Simone Knapp, said the initiative reflected growing cooperation between Kenya and Austria in applying agricultural technology to address food security and productivity challenges.

“Through such partnerships, Austrian agricultural technology companies can contribute to advancing food security and building more resilient agricultural systems in Africa,” Dr Knapp said, demonstrating inclusive and innovative cooperation that is mutually beneficial and drives global economic growth.

Commercially sustainable

Beyond the deployment of weather stations, Upyield4Africa seeks to establish a commercially sustainable community farming model that connects smallholder farmers to agricultural advisory services, input suppliers, shared infrastructure, financial institutions and produce buyers.

Under the model, farmers will be organised into production clusters supported by Digital Farm Advisors, who will serve as the link between technology and farming operations. The advisors will help farmers interpret weather and crop data, make agronomic decisions, access suitable inputs and coordinate production in line with market requirements.

The approach is designed to address persistent challenges facing smallholder agriculture, including fragmented production, limited access to technical expertise, unpredictable weather, inadequate financing and difficulties meeting the quality and volume requirements of commercial buyers.

By linking production to offtakers, the initiative aims to improve consistency in agricultural supply while giving farmers greater visibility of market demand before and during the production cycle.

The commercial model also seeks to generate revenue through crop sales and paid agricultural services, with the proceeds supporting the continued operation and maintenance of the technology and advisory network.

Financing institutions

Financing is another component of the initiative, with a proposed bank-to-bank arrangement involving Austrian financing institutions and a Kenyan banking partner.

Under the proposed structure, a cluster company or produce offtaker would access financing against eligible equipment and crop purchase arrangements. This is intended to reduce the need for individual smallholder farmers to provide land or personal assets as collateral.

The proposed arrangement remains subject to lender due diligence, eligibility requirements and the necessary approvals from the participating financial institutions, including Austria’s OeKB. KCB’s participation is provisional, and final financing terms have yet to be confirmed.