The Farms solution, developed by Farms Digital, the technology arm of Compagnie Fruitière, promises to optimize banana cultivation by enhancing productivity and efficiency. By increasing the average gain in flowering by 7%, the solution aims to provide better coverage, improve plot productivity, boost both fruit quality and weight, and enhance disease prevention. Launched in 2024, the solution is targeted at producers, cooperatives, and export companies. As Hortense Giraud, Head of Sales & Marketing at Farms Digital, explains, Farms Digital already serves a dozen producers across multiple countries, including Côte d'Ivoire, Cameroon, Ghana, and Ecuador. In 2025, the solution will expand further into markets such as the Dominican Republic, Honduras, Mexico, Brazil, Guatemala, and Colombia.
Photo credit: Farms Digital
Comprehensive real-time data collection
The Farms solution ensures comprehensive real-time data collection for banana cultivation. For instance, it can geolocate 100% of the bunches in plantations and record each bunch's full profile. It also pulls data from other connected farm systems, such as weather stations, irrigation systems, and weighing devices. This data is used to track pest and disease "hot spots" and ensure tasks are carried out precisely at the right location on the fruit.
More informed decision-making
The data collected enables precise, informed decision-making on several fronts. By providing reliable harvest forecasts, the system offers better visibility for sales projections and reduces the risk of missed bunches. It also helps in combating theft, improving population management, enhancing fruit quality, and improving disease prevention. Moreover, intra-parcel management through geolocation minimizes the cost of inputs, labor, and tasks.
Photo credit: Farms Digital
Precision farming through intra-parcel analysis
In essence, the Farms solution enables precision farming that boosts production, productivity, and cost-effectiveness, while minimizing environmental impact. The intra-parcel analysis feature facilitates geolocated treatments and actions, helping to preserve soil quality through fewer products and more targeted application frequencies. This reduces costs on labor, inputs, and products, making it a vital tool for complying with sustainability standards, including labels like Fairtrade.
Five key areas of application
The farm solution serves as a control tower focused on banana production, collecting data from the bunches in the fields all the way to the weighing station. This data is transferred daily to a protected cloud (Amazon Web Services), and the software is compatible with other applications via API (e.g., weather stations, and irrigation systems). The five main applications are:
- Field data management: covering flows, bunches, pallets, harvesting, weighing, etc.
- Population management
- Agronomic improvement plan
- Disease monitoring (e.g., Sigatoka and weevils)
- Work and field monitoring
The most significant innovation within this solution is the Agronomic Improvement Plan (P2A) module, which allows for the mapping of high and low-yielding plots, detailed analysis within each plot, and the simulation of benefits and costs of various tasks. This enables precise scheduling of farm work, improving overall productivity.
For more information:
Hortense Giraud
FARMS Digital
h.giraud@farms-digital.com
https://farms-digital.com/home