The Japanese government has been focusing on agtech after realizing the massive gains that innovative technologies have to offer to the agriculture industry. In tune with this development, the country’s ministry of agriculture has undertaken pilot projects, demonstration projects to accelerate smart agriculture, to aid the end-users, including the farmers, in utilizing emerging technologies to improve the yield and meet government regulations. Spearheading agtech innovation is Japan-based SkymatiX, a company that offers remote sensing service, specifically image analysis of drones, to capture the images of crops and analyze them for the end-users to understand the crop-condition. These images also aid in confirming if the crops are registered with the government. SkymatiX pioneers the crop survey service in Japan by helping clients in leveraging agtech solutions at an affordable price. “Unlike our competitors, we have outstanding technologies with rich functionalities, including image analysis, artificial intelligence, spatial processing, and GIS for better and clearer images at an affordable price. Add to that a dedicated team that is resolute in delivering impressive customer service,” states Zentaro Watanabe, CEO of SkymatiX. “With such capabilities, we have the record of introducing our services in Japan’s 40 prefectures out of 47, and assigning 13 representatives all over Japan for after support.”
Based on remote sensing technology, SkymatiX offers an innovative crop monitoring service, Iroha, which transforms all the crop images into valuable information for the end-users. In a case study, one of Japan’s local governments undertook a crop survey but was facing challenges in checking the status of cultivation fields, covering 1,200 hectares, in addition to examining crop registration. The local government staff, comprising about 180 personnel, wanted to accomplish the survey in a shorter time period but took two weeks to complete the survey. They approached SkymatiX for a faster and effective crop survey. “With our Iroha service, the government staff was able to gather all the cultivation-related information that reduced the manpower need by 90 percent and saved considerable cost,” extols Yasutaka Kuramoto, the company’s CTO.
Having helped the government in an effective crop survey, SkymatiX has become one of the key parties in the government-led smart tech agriculture project in Japan. The company is also willing to increase its participation in all the government projects related to agtech.
Encouraging farmers to utilize innovative services like Iroha, SkymatiX has increased its zeal to leverage agtech. Capitalizing on its fame and profits for years, SkymatiX has developed an elaborate strategy for the domestic market. The company has planned to expand the crop survey scope from rice, cabbage, and lettuce to other crops, such as broccoli. It is focused on collaborating with partners such as the country’s most significant agtech software, Agrinote, as well as Softbank’s new agtech matching platform, Agmiru, to increase the usage of Iroha in the domestic market. Moreover, the highly professional team of SkymatiX combines updated technology and a flexible business model to reduce clients’ expenses and generate more revenue.
SkymatiX has a well-defined roadmap for the overseas market and is looking for capable local partners in various countries across the world to expand its scope in the near future. SkymatiX aims to solidify its position in Japan and becoming the leader in the nation’s agtech sector and gradually cover the global market. Improving the Iroha service constitutes one of SkymatiX’s important goals moving forward. In addition, “We are working toward becoming the major preference for image analysis in the market,” concludes Watanabe.
