A three-month applied research pilot at the Sustainability Institute in Lynedoch, Stellenbosch, concludes with independently observable improvements in soil health and water management; thus, marking the transition of the MBS SmartFarm Platform to full deployment, with a deliberate focus on emerging farmers, cooperatives, and smart agricultural programmes across Sub-Saharan Africa.
The Announcement
MyBitSecure Technologies (Pty) Ltd today announces the full deployment of the MBS SmartFarm Platform, Africa’s first IoT-native precision agriculture platform to embed enterprise-grade cybersecurity at its architectural foundation. The platform is now available for deployment to emerging farmers, agricultural cooperatives, community food production initiatives, and institutions operating within sustainability-driven and development-finance supported programmes across Sub-Saharan Africa. The announcement follows the successful conclusion of a three-month applied pilot conducted in partnership with the Sustainability Institute (SI) in Lynedoch, Stellenbosch; one of South Africa’s foremost institutions for applied research in sustainable food systems and ecological education.
The pilot ran from February to April 2026. Over this three (3) month period, the platform monitored soil moisture, pH, electrical conductivity, temperature, water consumption, and real-time climatic conditions across the SI’s community garden. The platform’s Field Intelligence Report delivered daily, plain-language agronomic recommendations to the SI’s garden team, enabling evidence-based soil and irrigation management without the requirement for on-site specialist expertise.
“The integration of smart agriculture technologies within our garden is not only about improving yields and resource management, but also about deepening experiential learning; transforming the garden into a living laboratory for innovation.”
— Mulweli Nethengwe, Research & Strategy Analyst, Sustainability Institute
Background and Rationale
The global agricultural sector faces a compounding set of pressures: accelerating soil degradation driven by decades of industrial farming practice, increasing water scarcity intensified by climate variability, and a persistent technology access gap that leaves smallholder and community-scale farms without the precision tools available to large commercial operations. Research consistently identifies regenerative soil management as one of the most effective responses to these pressures, given its demonstrated capacity to increase carbon sequestration, restore microbial biodiversity, and improve long-term crop nutrient quality. MyBitSecure was founded to address this gap; specifically, within the African agricultural context, where unreliable GSM connectivity, data sovereignty requirements, and cost constraints have historically limited the applicability of platforms designed for Northern Hemisphere conditions.
The MBS SmartFarm Platform is engineered from the ground up for Sub-Saharan African environments, incorporating LoRaWAN connectivity, solar-powered sensor infrastructure, offline data logging, and South African infrastructure hosting to ensure both operational resilience and full compliance with the Protection of Personal Information Act (POPIA).
The Sustainability Institute provided an ideal applied research environment for the platform’s pilot phase. Its long-standing commitment to regenerative agriculture, community food security, and the integration of emerging technologies into educational programming aligned closely with the evidential and scalability objectives MyBitSecure set out to demonstrate.
Measured Outcomes: February – April 2026
The three-month pilot produced quantified, independently observable results across soil health, water management, and agronomic decision-making infrastructure:
The Platform
The MBS SmartFarm Platform is now available for deployment across Sub-Saharan Africa in both Starter, Premium and Hybrid hardware configurations, designed to serve emerging farmers, smallholder operations, community and institutional gardens, and cooperative farming enterprises; particularly those operating within sustainability-driven, development-finance, or impact-investment frameworks. The platform’s core capabilities are as follows:
What Comes Next
The Sustainability Institute has confirmed continued engagement with MyBitSecure following the conclusion of the pilot. The next phase will expand sensor coverage to include water level and pressure monitoring, embed the platform’s data outputs directly into SI learning programme curricula, and transition the deployment from pilot infrastructure to fully operational status. MyBitSecure regards the SI as a long-term knowledge partner, with the relationship providing an ongoing applied research environment for platform development and agronomic methodology refinement.
MyBitSecure is actively engaging additional agricultural institutions, research bodies, cooperative farming enterprises, and community food production initiatives across Sub-Saharan Africa seeking to integrate evidence-based soil and water management into their operations.
“Soil health is the foundation of food security and for too long, the intelligence needed to protect it has remained out of reach for the farms and communities that need it most. The MBS SmartFarm Platform changes that. What we are bringing is a contribution to the long-term resilience of food systems across this continent, backed by evidence, built for African conditions, and designed to serve the people who feed us.”
— Tandi Rouse, Co-Founder & Director, MyBitSecure Technologies (Pty) Ltd
About MyBitSecure Technologies
MyBitSecure Technologies (Pty) Ltd is an African Smart Agritech and Cybersecurity company headquartered in Cape Town, South Africa. Founded by Trevor Murimba (Certified Ethical Hacker) and Tandi Rouse, the company operates at the intersection of precision agriculture, IoT sensor engineering, and enterprise-grade data security. The MBS SmartFarm Platform delivers real-time soil intelligence, environmental monitoring, water management, predictive irrigation management, and AI-powered agronomic reporting to agricultural operations across Sub-Saharan Africa, hosted entirely on South African infrastructure in full compliance with POPIA.
