Russian Agritech Solutions Take Root on African Farms

Russian digital farming tools are being trialed in Uganda, targeting higher crop yields and lower costs for local farmers.

AgroSignal, a tech subsidiary of Russian fertilizer giant Uralchem, is expanding its digital farming platform abroad—and its latest testing ground is Uganda. Despite facing vastly different climate conditions, African farmers are struggling with many of the same issues their Russian counterparts face: inefficient sowing, inaccurate pesticide application, poor fuel tracking, and lack of comprehensive data on fieldwork cycles.

Over the past year, AgroSignal has been adapting its platform to suit the local context. It is currently being tested on 500 hectares of land planted with corn and soybeans, Uganda’s staple crops. The company expects the technology to boost productivity and yields, while cutting operational costs by up to 30%.

If the pilot succeeds, the model could scale to cover Africa’s 350 million hectares of arable land—offering a long-term strategy to ease the continent’s chronic food insecurity.

AgroSignal’s technologies have already been tested and refined for over a decade in Russia and across CIS countries, driving a broad push for digital transformation in agriculture.