Growing up in a farming household in Nigeria, Gabriel Eze saw how the livelihood of Nigerian farmers has decreased over time as food prices have skyrocketed. Determined to help farmers maximize the potential of their soil and better support themselves, Eze created Rural Farmers Hub: Decision-Ready Data and Insights for Farmers. In developing a solution to expensive and inaccessible soil testing, Eze is learning how to refine his startup through the award-winning Master of Business Creation (MBC) Global program at the University of Utah’s David Eccles School of Business.
In November 2018, Eze learned about soil testing and set out to test his own for the first time. When he ordered the testing kit, he discovered the testing lab was 500 km (310 miles) away from his farm and came with a steep price tag. Still determined, Eze went through with it. After a long wait, the results finally arrived — but there was one major problem: they came after the growing season had finished. Eze recognized this system was not sustainable, and there had to be a better way.
What if there was a way farmers could access their soil information in seconds? Rural Farmers Hub makes that possible, utilizing satellite data to predict soil conditions without the cost or delays of traditional testing. Drawing on his background in machine learning, Eze built a model that combined satellite data with historical soil data to predict soil quality — and he was successful. His soil analysis app for farmers is 85% accurate, generating soil information in under ten seconds. This platform gives farmers quick access to critical soil insights at a fraction of the price of a traditional soil testing kit.
Eze said, “The platform will solve a real challenge: cost, distance, supply. Imagine if all 30 million farmers decided to do soil testing today? The laboratories just cannot meet their needs.”
Today, over 60% of Nigerians depend on farming for their livelihood. As food prices are inflated and farmers in his community are struggling to meet their daily needs, Eze’s mission is simple: “I’m doing this for me, my community, and my country,” he said.
Through the MBC program, Eze is learning how to strategically position and grow his startup. What stands out to him is the power of building a strong company image and learning “how to win” in the agricultural technology marketplace. “You don’t have to know everything coming in,” Eze said, knowing that by following each module step by step, he has gained meaningful, hands-on experience in developing his business. He especially values the structure of the program. “You are doing one job with two outcomes. Doing an assignment becomes working for your company,” he said.
With the testing kit price of $1.50 USD for a season, Eze aspires to work with various organizations to reach 50,000 more farmers in the next five years. His lifetime goal is to reach 1 million across Africa.
Eze remains committed to expanding Rural Farmers Hub to farmers across the world who need it most. In pursuit of this, he said, “The day our service becomes no longer useful — because the soil is regenerated, or farmers can do this by themselves — I feel like I have solved the problem. The day I become irrelevant, my job is done.”
Learn about how Rural Farmers Hub is changing soil testing at RuralFarmersHub.com. Watch a video illustrating the technology here.
