NAIROBI, Kenya, Oct 30 – Austrian agricultural technology company Pessl Instruments plans to install 15,000 smart weather stations in Kenya as the first phase of a wider rollout targeting 100,000 units across Africa.

The project, known as UpYield4Africa, was launched in Nairobi on Friday and aims to help small-scale farmers use local weather and soil data to improve farming decisions, manage climate risks and access markets.

The weather stations, sold under Pessl’s METOS brand, will collect information on rainfall, temperature, humidity, soil moisture and leaf wetness. The data will be available through the company’s FieldClimate platform, which provides weather forecasts and crop disease alerts.

The information is expected to help farmers decide when to plant, irrigate and apply fertiliser, as well as manage pests and diseases and prepare for extreme weather.

Pessl Instruments founder and Chief Executive Gottfried Pessl said the technology would give farmers access to location-specific information to guide decisions throughout the growing season.

AgriMet Data Kenya will serve as the local implementation partner, handling distribution, installation and maintenance of the stations, as well as farmer training and support.

The initiative will also seek to connect farmers to agricultural advisers, input suppliers, financial institutions and produce buyers. Farmers will be organised into production clusters and supported by digital farm advisers who will help interpret the data and coordinate production based on market demand.

The model is intended to address challenges such as fragmented production, limited access to farming advice, unpredictable weather and difficulties meeting the supply requirements of commercial buyers.

The project also proposes a financing arrangement involving Austrian financial institutions and a Kenyan banking partner. Under the plan, cluster companies or produce buyers could access loans backed by eligible equipment and crop purchase agreements, reducing the need for individual farmers to provide land or personal assets as security.

However, the financing arrangement is still subject to lender due diligence and regulatory approvals. KCB’s participation is provisional, and final terms have not been agreed.

Austrian Ambassador to Kenya Simone Knapp said the initiative would strengthen cooperation between the two countries in agricultural technology and food security.

The Nairobi launch brought together companies including Safaricom, Bayer Crop Science, Lindsay, HZPC and Viazi, X Green Capital, FreshCrop Limited and SAI Platform.