“We have to move the needle”
Q&A with Jairo Trad, CEO & Co-Founder of Kilimo
Jairo TradCEO & Co-FounderKilimo
Connect
Jairo Trad, CEO & Co-Founder of Kilimo, on how AI is revolutionising water efficiency.
What does AI do for Kilimo? It underpins everything. It analyses satellite, meteorological and field data to generate precise irrigation recommendations – combining data from five public and 150 private satellites. Farmers then receive customised, real-time insights on water use. So, in essence, we create a ‘virtual weather station’ for each individual farm. AI also verifies and quantifies water savings, allowing corporations to invest with credibility.
How is AI such a gamechanger for agriculture and water management? AI replaces outdated water management practices, providing real-time monitoring across vast areas and hyper-local water insights – something previously impossible. So, it can provide real-time, data-driven decision making, without needing expensive on-site sensors. It also bridges gaps in other agricultural data, helping farmers make much more informed irrigation decisions. Ultimately, by removing the guesswork, it greatly improves efficiency.
What challenges did you face scaling Kilimo from blueprint to breakthrough? It’s been a journey! We spent years understanding farmers' needs and testing solutions. Initially, AI couldn’t access today’s breadth of data, so early models didn’t match real-world behaviour. With more data sources, including satellites and soil sensors, we could provide much more accurate predictions. Yet farmers were still reluctant to change, until Kilimo introduced financial incentives. However, investors found this too risky in water. So, we had to pivot again to focus on water stewardship and corporate partnerships.
How do you measure the value Kilimo delivers? For farmers, over-irrigating is safer than under-irrigating – which leads to a lot of water waste. Our AI-driven insights reduce unnecessary irrigation, saving money and reducing water usage by 20-40%. Our technology also reduces the need for on-site monitoring and minimises labour costs – freeing up farmers to focus on business growth. So, for farmers it’s a win-win-win, because they also receive direct cash incentives for their water savings – earning from 50% to 200% of what they pay for Kilimo’s service.
How does the partnership model provide broader value – to business and the planet?Water security is becoming a global business issue, not just a farming concern. Data centres and AI also consume vast amounts of water, adding new pressures. So we have collaborated with corporations to fund water offsets – incentivising farmers to save water and improving sustainability. AI then tracks and verifies water savings – making offsets credible and building trust among corporate partners and farmers. The win-win nature of it has turned water stewardship into a global business strategy.
What was your business pitch to the corporations?Large tech businesses in South America were facing real environmental opposition when opening new facilities – whether they be data centres or bottle factories. We told them that Kilimo provided a solution. By assigning a monetary value to water savings, corporations can now invest in water security as part of their sustainability goals – making water a quantifiable asset. We already work with Fortune500 companies including with Google, Microsoft, and Amazon.
AI replaces outdated water management practices, providing real-time monitoring across vast areas and hyper-local water insights – something previously impossible.
How do you see AI influencing food production in the next decade?The demand for food has skyrocketed, requiring precision farming to optimise water use. Yet water is still hugely undervalued and water stewardship is becoming a global concern. We’ve shown how AI can change things. It will also optimise food production and reduce waste, playing a critical role in sustainable agriculture more generally. AI should never be in control, but farmers will make much better, data-driven decisions.
How can we build trust in AI-suspicious communities and cultures?It’s about transparency and sharing real-world success stories. AI will become more precise as data sources improve. So it will move from being an advisory tool to an active farm management assistant – enabling farmers to do much more with much less. The results themselves will build trust, but we also need to work closely with communities. For Kilimo, we use local teams to ensure AI tools align with farmers’ needs and show them the tangible benefits.
