Build Nigeria 2026 · Smart Agriculture
AgriSense Probe
A probe you push into a bag of grain that reads the temperature and humidity deep inside and warns you early, before spo
Built by Zolt, University of Benin
The problem
In Nigeria, one of the biggest losses in agriculture isn't growing the crop, it's keeping it safe. In 2020, we lost about 17.5% of our maize and 11.7% of our rice after harvest. That's over 2 million tonnes of maize and nearly 1 million tonnes of rice, and the rice alone was worth more than 970 million US dollars. A big part of this happens in storage, and the biggest issue is that farmers can't see what's going on inside the bag. Heat and moisture build up at the centre first, but the only way to check is to pierce the side of the bag again and again, which only shows the grain near the surface. Those holes also damage the bags, which is bad for export quality.
Who it is for
Farmers and Grain merchant and handlers who store and move rice, maize, beans, and other bagged produce.
Latest from the team
Design plan approved. We're now building and testing our first probe prototypes
Would you use this?
6 people have said yes so far. Tell the team, and tell them what you would pay. It helps them build the right thing, and it counts towards their score.
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