INDUSTRY WATCH
WE ARE INTRODUCING SOLUTIONS TO THE MARKET WHICH HELP IMPROVE FEED CONVERSION RATIOS , MORTALITY AND GROWTH RATES AND BENCHMARKING PRACTICES ACROSS THEIR PRODUCTION FACILITIES .
Tech giant IBM , has announced that startup , Omniolytics , has turned to it to help transform poultry farming through digital platforms that use sensors and IBM Watson running in the IBM Cloud . Omniolytics develops smart farming solutions for emerging and commercial poultry farmers .
The South African poultry industry today has a number challenges ranging from the quality and origins of feeds , high feed prices and the recurrence of avian influenza and disease outbreaks such as listeriosis and salmonellosis .
Working with IBM , Omniolytics has developed a new approach that uses Internet of Things ( IoT ) technologies to collect data on the environmental conditions of production facilities and day-to-day management activities and processes of poultry to improve animal health , mitigate losses and assist producers in improving production efficiency , helping address food security concerns . The suite of solutions use IBM Watson and Machine Learning capabilities to identify and learn the typical behaviour of birds – and lead to improved management practices . Farmers are then able to receive a more complete picture of the wellbeing of their flocks delivered on IBM Cloud identifying processes and environmental deviations which could point to a potential problem .
The poultry industry was valued at over 46 billion rand ( US $ 3.1 billion ) in 2019 makes up over 16 % of the total gross value of agricultural production in South Africa . In 2018 , the avian flu outbreak alone cost the South African economy 954 million rand ( US $ 66.3 million ). Omniolytics is addressing the need for commercial and emerging poultry farmers in this valuable industry to make informed , real-time decisions on potential threats and forecast dangers within the broiler house facility and provides farmers with early warnings on potential issues – making their processes more efficient and improving production standards .
“ Local farmers have to be enabled to be globally competitive and the best way to do that is through technology . IBM Cloud and AI ensures we have a platform to help farmers across South Africa use precision agriculture to enhance the efficiency of their production . We are introducing solutions to the market which help improve feed conversion ratios , mortality and growth rates and benchmarking practices across their production facilities . This will ensure accurate future predictions across the value chain and make poultry farming more sustainable ,” said Michael Samson , Founder , Omniolytics .
Omniolytics ’ flagship solution , OmnioFarm is built on IBM Cloud and collects , processes , analyses , and visualises comprehensive insights collected from integrated wireless sensors , coupled with production records and activities across the production cycle .
DataViz , Omniolytics ’ foundation product , draws data from wireless sensors placed in the chicken broiler house to monitor the environmental conditions including air and water quality as well as lighting . These sensors will provide data via IoT platforms to the DataViz platform – digitally capturing facilities environmental conditions and production records while also scheduling activities , setting thresholds and notifications . The platform also captures live and historic trends in real-time and can also be accessed over a mobile device or computer .
Local Insights is , Omniolytics ’ leading product . It embeds intelligence and helps manage end-to-end processes using data , analytics and Machine Learning , guiding farmers in adopting prescribed practices ,
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