Logo
TAAT e-catalog for Development partners
https://e-catalogs.taat-africa.org/org/technologies/agrocares-scanner-soil-feed-and-leaves-nutrient-scanner
Request information View pitch brochure

Agrocares Scanner: Soil, Feed and Leaves Nutrient Scanner

Scan Nutrients. Get Answers. Act Fast.

Development projects aiming to improve soil health, input efficiency, or climate resilience can use the AgroCares Nutrient Scanner as a reliable, field-ready diagnostic tool. This handheld device connects to a smartphone and works with specialized apps (SoilCares, LeafCares, FeedCares) to test soil, leaf, or feed samples directly in the field. It uses near-infrared (NIR) light to analyze the sample and sends the data to AgroCares’ global database. In just a few minutes, it produces a user-friendly report showing nutrient content and targeted recommendations to inform better farming decisions. With no need for chemicals or lab access, the scanner supports inclusive, data-driven practices in remote or underserved areas.

2

This technology is pre-validated.

9•9

Scaling readiness: idea maturity 9/9; level of use 9/9

Adults 18 and over: Positive high

The scanner has direct benefits for adult farmers and communities. For smallholder farmers, on-site soil testing leads to better crop management, higher yields, and improved food security, creating a safer and more resilient livelihood. In remote areas with limited access to resources, this technology helps optimize fertilizer use and farming practices, leading to more stable harvests and income.

The poor: Positive high

Smallholder farmers with limited financial resources stand to gain significantly from this technology. Traditionally, soil and feed testing has been expensive or logistically unreachable for poor rural farmers – requiring paid lab analysis and travel to distant facilities. AgroCares addresses this by enabling in-situ testing at minimal cost per sample. Public or cooperative sector initiatives often purchase the device and then offer testing services to members at subsidized rates or for free.

Under 18: Positive low

No direct impact. Increased food productivity and therefore revenues in farming families allows parents to match their economic needs with less support from the young generations, which could allow the young them to spend more time in higher education.

Women: Positive medium

The scanning technology is gender-neutral in design – it can be utilized by both men and women farmers. While AgroCares did not originally set out with a specific gender focus, there is evidence that it can particularly empower women in agriculture. A market analysis by Mercy Corps Agrifin and Busara found that although young farmers were more likely to try soil testing, women were even more likely than men to follow through on the recommended actions after testing

Climate adaptability: Highly adaptable

The scanner device has been designed for use in diverse climates and field conditions worldwide. It is rugged, portable, and built to withstand harsh environments. According to its technical specifications, the unit is IP65 rated – meaning it is dust-tight and resistant to water jets – and it passes standard drop/shock tests.

Farmer climate change readiness: Significant improvement

By using the scanner’s insights, farmers can make their operations more resilient to climate extremes and variability. A key feature is the monitoring of soil organic matter and carbon content – crucial indicators of soil health. Healthier, carbon-rich soils have higher water holding capacity and better structure. In fact, soil organic matter can increase a soil’s water retention by roughly 25–35% in loamy soils.

Biodiversity: Positive impact on biodiversity

The AgroCares approach encourages balanced nutrient management and reduced chemical overuse, which benefits both soil biodiversity and the broader ecosystem. Regular soil analysis promotes nutrient balance – farmers correct deficiencies and avoid surplus fertilizer applications. This is important because heavy, imbalanced fertilizer use (especially of nitrogen and phosphorus) can degrade soil life and microbial diversity over time.

Carbon footprint: Much less carbon released

Compared to a traditional wetchem laboratory, Agrocares does not use any consumables, which reduces all the footprint caused by all these reagents. Secondly, sample movement from the farm to the laboratory is not required when using the sensor, which nullifies all the transporting and logistics related emissions.

Environmental health: Greatly improves environmental health

Inefficient environmental externalities (e.g. N leaching, P leaching, water pollution) caused by farming systems can be reduced with regular testing and by adopting the recommendation offered for soil management, leaf fertilization and feed formulation.

Soil quality: Improves soil health and fertility

The technology is specifically designed to have a drastic improvement on soil fertility, health and nutrient cycles.

Water use: Much less water used

If farmers follow the irrigations advice which can be formulated with a test from the Agrocares scanner (we produce reports on texture class and water related soil functions), less water can be used while maintaining productivity targets.

Problem

  • Low Farmer Access to Soil and Crop Data
    Fewer than 5% of farmers have access to reliable testing, limiting their ability to manage nutrients effectively.
  • Wasted Inputs and Land Degradation
    Fertilizers are applied without addressing true deficiencies, reducing impact and worsening soil health.
  • Testing Services are Slow and Costly
    Off-site laboratory testing is often unaffordable or too slow to match the pace of project delivery.
  • Field Agents Lack Decision-Support Tools
    Many cooperatives and NGO staff lack tools to deliver personalized recommendations grounded in real data.

Solution

  • Access to Testing in Remote Areas
    Field agents and cooperatives can perform diagnostics where labs aren’t available.
  • Smarter Input Use
    Farmers receive specific advice based on actual nutrient needs, improving impact and efficiency.
  • Fits Budget and Timelines
    Fast testing and digital reports reduce delays and costs in program delivery.
  • Scalable Across Projects
    The scanner supports multiple use cases—from crops to livestock—and integrates easily into field workflows.

Key points to design your program

Donors and NGOs can boost project impact by deploying scanners through local networks and linking diagnostics to M&E systems.

Integration Steps:

  1. Pilot locally
    Launch initial deployments in cooperatives, women’s groups, or youth-led agribusinesses. Pair with training, business planning, and coaching support.

  2. Build local capacity
    Train selected farmers, youth, or community agents to deliver scanning services. Focus on creating inclusive, income-generating opportunities.

  3. Integrate into project workflows
    Use the scanner during scheduled field visits, training sessions, or livestock feed planning to embed diagnostics into everyday advisory work.

  4. Link to M&E systems
    Connect scanner data to project dashboards to monitor changes in fertilizer use, yields, soil health, or cost-effectiveness in real time.

  5. Engage stakeholders
    Use field days, farmer learning events, and local radio to share results and success stories to encourage wider community uptake.

  6. Scale with blended finance
    Combine donor investment with private sector co-funding to expand access to scanners, especially for high-priority value chains and underserved zones.

6695 USD

Unit Cost of Scanner

ROI: $$$ 30 %

Return on investment per year

1950 USD

Yearly Licence for Soil Testing

2500 USD

Yearly Licence for Leaf or Feed Testing

IP

Patent granted, Copyright, Trademark

Scaling Readiness describes how complete a technology’s development is and its ability to be scaled. It produces a score that measures a technology’s readiness along two axes: the level of maturity of the idea itself, and the level to which the technology has been used so far.

Each axis goes from 0 to 9 where 9 is the “ready-to-scale” status. For each technology profile in the e-catalogs we have documented the scaling readiness status from evidence given by the technology providers. The e-catalogs only showcase technologies for which the scaling readiness score is at least 8 for maturity of the idea and 7 for the level of use.

The graph below represents visually the scaling readiness status for this technology, you can see the label of each level by hovering your mouse cursor on the number.

Read more about scaling readiness ›

Scaling readiness score of this technology

Maturity of the idea 9 out of 9

Uncontrolled environment: validated

Level of use 9 out of 9

Common use by intended users, in the real world

Maturity of the idea Level of use
9
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

Countries with a green colour
Tested & adopted
Countries with a bright green colour
Adopted
Countries with a yellow colour
Tested
Countries with a blue colour
Testing ongoing
Egypt Equatorial Guinea Ethiopia Algeria Angola Benin Botswana Burundi Burkina Faso Democratic Republic of the Congo Djibouti Côte d’Ivoire Eritrea Gabon Gambia Ghana Guinea Guinea-Bissau Cameroon Kenya Libya Liberia Madagascar Mali Malawi Morocco Mauritania Mozambique Namibia Niger Nigeria Republic of the Congo Rwanda Zambia Senegal Sierra Leone Zimbabwe Somalia South Sudan Sudan South Africa Eswatini Tanzania Togo Tunisia Chad Uganda Western Sahara Central African Republic Lesotho
Countries where the technology is being tested or has been tested and adopted
Country Testing ongoing Tested Adopted
Angola No ongoing testing Not tested Adopted
Burundi No ongoing testing Not tested Adopted
Cameroon No ongoing testing Tested Not adopted
Comoros Testing ongoing Not tested Not adopted
Côte d’Ivoire No ongoing testing Tested Not adopted
Democratic Republic of the Congo Testing ongoing Not tested Not adopted
Egypt No ongoing testing Tested Not adopted
Eritrea Testing ongoing Not tested Not adopted
Ethiopia No ongoing testing Tested Not adopted
Ghana No ongoing testing Not tested Adopted
Kenya No ongoing testing Not tested Adopted
Malawi No ongoing testing Not tested Adopted
Morocco Testing ongoing Not tested Not adopted
Mozambique No ongoing testing Not tested Adopted
Namibia No ongoing testing Not tested Adopted
Niger No ongoing testing Tested Not adopted
Nigeria No ongoing testing Not tested Adopted
Republic of the Congo Testing ongoing Not tested Not adopted
Rwanda No ongoing testing Not tested Adopted
Somalia Testing ongoing Not tested Not adopted
South Africa No ongoing testing Not tested Adopted
South Sudan Testing ongoing Not tested Not adopted
Sudan Testing ongoing Not tested Not adopted
Tanzania No ongoing testing Not tested Adopted
Uganda No ongoing testing Not tested Adopted
Zambia No ongoing testing Not tested Adopted

This technology can be used in the colored agro-ecological zones. Any zones shown in white are not suitable for this technology.

Agro-ecological zones where this technology can be used
AEZ Subtropic - warm Subtropic - cool Tropic - warm Tropic - cool
Arid
Semiarid
Subhumid
Humid

Source: HarvestChoice/IFPRI 2009

The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals that are applicable to this technology.

Sustainable Development Goal 1: no poverty
Goal 1: no poverty

Improvement of fertility would cause yield increase, and therefore possibility to trade and improve rural economy.

Sustainable Development Goal 2: zero hunger
Goal 2: zero hunger

Finding the causes of yield gap (soil or leaf related) or can reduce food insecurity. Agrocares maximises food production by boosting fertilizer use efficiency (which is a known problem in Africa) and collecting big datasets of farmer information and productivity maps. Likewise testing animal feed increases the biomass conversion rate in animal products. Testing plant material can diagnose micronutrient deficiency, which is the cause of the "hidden hunger" in developing countries. Hidden hunger refers to micronutrient deficiencies (vitamins and minerals) despite adequate calorie intake.

Sustainable Development Goal 8: decent work and economic growth
Goal 8: decent work and economic growth

Digital agriculture offers new opportunities of employment and market growth.

Sustainable Development Goal 13: climate action
Goal 13: climate action

The Agrocares scanner can measure carbon stocks (Carbon Monitor Solution), which allows public or private stakeholders to account for carbon removal and evaluate if soil management practices are contributing to climate mitigation.

Sustainable Development Goal 15: life on land
Goal 15: life on land

Improving fertilizer use efficiency would mean reducing wasted nutrient which do not end up in the plant biomass. This negative externalities are known to impact biodiversity.

  1. Scan

    • Collect a small sample of soil, leaf, or feed.

    • Hold down the scanner’s button and take 3 fast scans. The device uses near-infrared (NIR) light to capture the sample’s chemical fingerprint. 

  2. Upload

    • The scanner connects to your smartphone via Bluetooth and uses the official AgroCares Scanner app.

    • Scanned data is held offline and automatically uploads when internet access is restored.

  3. Analyze

    • Uploaded data is sent to AgroCares’ global database, where it’s matched against thousands of samples.

    • Within about 10 minutes, the app returns nutrient values calculated by advanced algorithms. 

  4. Act

    • You receive a digital report in the app and on the web portal.

    • It displays nutrient levels and offers practical recommendations for fertilization, crop nutrition, or feed improvement.

Last updated on 27 August 2025