See inside every rearing cycle.
Mkuu-lima is our monitoring platform for Black Soldier Fly farms: a sensor kit in the cage, text alerts in plain words, and an app the whole farm team uses to record and follow every batch.
Readings from inside the cage
Readings are sent on a schedule we set for each farm, as often as every 15 minutes.
Air in the cage
Temperature and humidity around the trays, from one sensor per cage.
Substrate in each tray
The temperature where the larvae actually live, from a probe in each of up to four trays.
The sensor itself
Whether it has reported on time, so a silent sensor never goes unnoticed, and its battery level where one is fitted.
A text when something needs you
Mkuu-lima compares each place's readings with the limits for the stage its batch is at, and texts everyone on the farm's team who has alerts switched on. Each text says where, what's wrong and what to do. When things are back to normal, a second text says so.
- Too hot or too cold
- Too dry or too damp
- Hot and dry together, or cold and damp together
- Overheating that needs action now
- A sensor that has stopped reporting
Each person on the team can switch their own SMS alerts on or off in the app.
RETHINKORG
RETHINK CRITICAL - Tray 1 (Cage 4): URGENT: temperature critical. Stir substrate now and increase ventilation immediately.
RESOLVED: Tray 1 (Cage 4) has stabilized. No further action needed.
Examples of real alert formats.
One app for the whole farm
Owners, managers and workers each see what their role needs, on an Android phone or in a web browser.
Your farm, your way
Set up cages, trays, rooms or greenhouses in the layout you actually have, and see each place's conditions at a glance.
Every batch, egg to harvest
Follow each batch through its stages, with a reminder to check when it's due to move on. Record feeding, moves, splits and harvests in a few taps.
Works without signal
Records made without signal are kept on the phone and sent when you're back online.
Charts that explain themselves
See temperature and humidity over a day, a week or a month, against the range that's right for the stage.
A team with roles
Invite workers and managers by phone number. Owners decide who does what.
English and Kiswahili
Switch language any time. Owners and managers can also download all the farm's records.
From cage to phone in three steps
-
The sensor
Reads the cage and trays, and sends the readings over Wi-Fi. A mobile-network (GSM) version for farms without Wi-Fi is in development.
-
Our cloud service
Receives the readings securely, checks them against your farm's limits, and keeps the history. It runs in the EU.
-
Your phone
Alerts arrive by SMS on any phone. The full picture is in the Mkuu-lima app.
How to get Mkuu-lima
Mkuu-lima comes with our kits and rentals: we install the sensor, set up your farm in the app and train your team. The app will be on Google Play soon. Until then, we install it with you.
Where Mkuu-lima stands
Technology readiness level 4: the system is validated in our own test setup. Our pilot is ready, and we're in discussion with companies and farmers to roll it out.