Season 7 of Shark Tank Vietnam TV show has showcased numerous innovative Vietnamese tech startups, with Enfarm standing out for its impressive soil nutrient sensing technology. This startup has developed smart sensors designed to measure essential soil metrics, providing farmers with crucial data to enhance crop yield and sustainability.

Nguyen Do Dung, co-founder of Enfarm, explained that the sensor data is transmitted to a smartphone app, offering not just information on moisture, temperature, and pH levels, but also suggestions for the best course of action based on the collected data.

"Now, even the soil and plants can 'speak' to help farmers better understand their fields," said Dung.

Discussing the motivation behind the product, Dung highlighted a significant issue in Vietnamese agriculture: 60% of water and fertilizer used does not get absorbed by plants, leading to an annual waste of 3.6 billion USD. The excess fertilizers not only pollute the soil and water but also contribute to greenhouse gas emissions and climate change.

"Over-fertilization and excessive watering not only harm the environment but also reduce crop yields. For instance, in durian cultivation, many orchards lose up to 50% of their yield due to fruit drop caused by water, temperature, and fertilizer shock," Dung noted.

Enfarm's technology boasts high accuracy and low cost. For just 600,000 VND (approximately $25), farmers can measure NPK (nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium) levels with lab-like precision. On the international market, soil sensors are available at various price points, ranging from a few hundred thousand to several million VND. However, most of these sensors only measure moisture and pH, and those that measure NPK are often expensive and may not be as accurate.

To achieve high measurement accuracy, Enfarm employs AI and machine learning technologies, analyzing around 1,000 soil samples to uncover the relationships between nutrients, moisture, pH, and other factors, ultimately creating a formula for accurate nutrient measurement.

After two years of technology development, Enfarm began trial sales of its product earlier this year, deploying approximately 500 sensors and generating 1.5 billion VND in revenue. Looking ahead, the founder plans to develop the startup into a subscription-based model, covering both equipment and fertilizer costs.

"For example, coffee farmers typically spend 30-40 million VND per hectare on fertilizer. Enfarm will charge 20 million VND for both the service and fertilizer, with the guarantee that the crop yield will be equal to or better than before using our product," Dung explained.

Trong Dat