A growing number of agritech innovative solutions illustrate the importance of agricultural sector in the Western Balkan economies.

Agriculture and related sectors contribute around 10% of the Western Balkans' GDP. In Albania only, agriculture contributed 19,5 % to its GDP in 2018.

Unfortunately, agricultural sector suffers the consequences of climate change. Innovative ways of agriculture management seem to be crucially important to tackle challenges in this sector.

Agritech is a common term for technological innovation in agriculture that contribute to an increase in productivity, efficiency and improving various processes.

Agritech Innovative Solutions in the region

EIT Food and Startit organized “Innovation Prizes Event” in Serbia in 2021. This is one of the biggest agri-food startup competitions in the Southeastern Europe.

The competition featured eight innovative startups from Serbia that presented diverse and creative ideas.

NSoilab – microbial fertilizer encouraging plant growth and protection against pathogens in an environmentally sustainable way.

Phy2TRACE – data management platform tracing food, cosmetics and medicine origins.

AgroCams – camera system allows agricultural sprayers to spray only weeds and halve the use of herbicides.

B-FRESH – spray aimed to prevent food rotting that can be sprayed on any packaging material, such as paper, cardboard, plastic, wood, etc.

Humanless Agriculture Technologies (Hagtec) – automatic detection of weeds, diseases and insects and selection of products that solve these problems.

Coffee Fit – coffee-based product that is used as an additive to improve the performance of animal feed.

Atfield Technologies – tool that reduces risks and saves time by providing vineyard managers with verified hyper-local viticulture data.

MapMyApple – digital agronomist helping small and medium apple growers to have healthy orchards and healthy fruits.

Promising startups & concepts

In recent years, Serbian startups are drivers of change in the agritech innovation field.

These 4 startups combine elements of smart farming and sustainable solutions.

ATAR is a new generation startup combining elements of agritech and artificial intelligence (AI). ATAR's main concept is based on the use of smart sprayer that reduces the use of chemicals in fields up to 70%.

Agremo startup has been developing a software platform for agricultural producers, growers and anyone who deals with health of land a crops since 2015.

Its precision agriculture software is based on human expertise, backed by scientific research and augmented with artificial intelligence.

AgroBudget is another young promising startup that delivers expert consulting in agriculture, rural development, environmental protection, and many other areas.

Their platform provides “optimized agriculture investment information while allowing its users to estimate and review their financial efficiency”.

Cooperation Manager startup is bringing trading cereals and oilseeds to a whole new level. They help improve contacts with farmers and make trading procedures easier. Their electronic system for client communication allows easier, faster and more affordable business.

Conclusion

The current food crisis has shown the importance of agriculture globally. Many agritech innovative solutions presented here help identify the potential of agriculture in the WB region.

One of alarming consequence of climate change in the Western Balkans is a major food quality decrease.

Agritech startups from the Western Balkans have come to understand this reality quicker than many decision makers. By incorporating smart solutions to cope with rapidly escalating climate change challenges, the region's creative people can show the way to a better future.