Controlling water waste with AI and data: Egyptian deeptech startup Visual and AI Solutions (VAIS) combines geospatial intelligence with AI to inform efficient agricultural practices using proprietary technology. The startup invented patent-pending Virtual Field Probing (VFP) technology to offer AI solutions for optimizing the use of irrigation water and mitigating the impacts of climate change. VAIS solutions also include dynamic crop mapping, nutrient distribution mapping and fertilization plans, monitoring and detection of crop diseases, and early warning systems to protect against weather incidents.

Co-founded by Karim Amer and Mohamed ElHelw in 2020, VAIS was previously incubated by NilePreneurs and received its first equity investment in Catalyst Fund’s pre-seed round in January after participating in four accelerators. The startup has partnered with Radiant Earth Foundation, the European Space Agency, GIZ, Rwanda Space Agency, and the One Acre Fund.

We spoke with co-founder Karim Amer about how VAIS tech can inform climate-smart agriculture in Africa. Below is an edited transcript of our conversation.

Enterprise: What are the problems VAIS addresses?

Karim Amer: We offer farmers climate-smart agriculture AI solutions with a tool that integrates weather data, soil data, and crop-related data. We also help farmers reduce their carbon footprint by addressing over-irrigation and over-fertilization, which can increase greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs).

Agriculture in Africa is not very efficient. According to reports from the World Bank, we use 85% of our freshwater for irrigation and waste around 60% of it in over-irrigation. We see USD bns in crop yield losses each year, and the reason for this is farmers don’t have good live data to monitor what’s happening on the ground. Farmers in Africa rely on very basic technology and use the same methods that have been used for the past 70-100 years, but those methods don’t work anymore. Surging prices in water, fertilizer and energy are making things worse as well.

E: Tell us more about your VFP technology and FarmGate.

KA: VFP analyzes huge amounts of data coming from several satellites — which we call multimodal satellite data — and combines it with AI to inform us of what's going on the ground. Because it’s a pure software solution that eliminates the need for hardware, it’s very scalable and affordable. VFP allows us to monitor soil water levels hourly throughout the season, and based on that, we provide actionable recommendations to farmers on how, when, and where they should irrigate. It's quite revolutionary on the farmers’ side, because it allows them to benefit without a huge investment. We’ve seen up to 30% reduction in water and fertilizer use in the farms that we monitor.

FarmGate is the user-end of the solution, which we launched one year ago. Right now, we have a subscription model based on area, so we charge USD 10 per acre annually for a basic package, and we have premium subscriptions as well. It’s available as a web dashboard and a mobile application, and farmers only receive actionable recommendations, which includes when to irrigate and where the stress points are.

For the past year, we have worked with several partners on hundreds of acres in Egypt which grow crops like potatoes, medical herbs, sesame and ground cherries. Our plan this year is to aggressively expand our traction to reach tens of thousands of acres, then later on expand in Africa.

E: You also have a product called the Global Soil Moisture Engine. What is it and how is it different from VFP?

KA: The Global Soil Moisture Engine is one of the byproducts of VFP. It provides information about soil water levels and water consumption in agriculture not just on a farm scale, but on a regional or global scale as well. It targets international organizations, governmental agencies, traders, insurers, etc. The Engine also provides historical data on root zone soil moisture, which measures how much water is in the deep layers of the soil. This is very important for irrigation and water in general, because some plants have roots that go up to 1 meter in depth. It also provides historical data, which can help governmental agencies improve their water quota allocation and plan better.

E: What is the company’s goal for the region?

KA: We would like to democratize access to tech in the region. Wealthy farmers in the US and Canada can buy the expensive hardware to monitor crops, but in our region, it’s more difficult to rely on hardware because of prices and supply chains. The technology that we use is as accurate as ground probes, but rather than giving farmers raw data, we give them actionable information and future forecasts.

Right now, we work with medium- and large-scale farms that have 40+ acres per farm area in Beheira. Small-holders are definitely in our plan over the next couple of years. Some farmers are aware of the waste because it carries a financial burden for them.

E: How do you acquire data?

KA: There are two sources of satellite data: Open sources from government agencies and private companies that operate their own satellite constellations, and we use both. The beauty of satellite data is that it covers pretty much anywhere in the world, so we can easily scale up. Think of satellite data as an untapped mind — it’s just raw data; it doesn't mean anything on its own. We use AI to harness and understand the deeper meaning of data and provide actionable results based on it.

E: Can geospatial intelligence inform climate solutions in other sectors?

KA: Geospatial intelligence can inform many industries besides farming. VFP can definitely be used for environmental monitoring, detecting fuel and gas leakages and coastal erosion monitoring, to give just a few examples. Our work is focused on agriculture, but the technology can definitely be used to inform other sectors.