Get to know Mertani, Provider of IoT and Analytics Solutions for Agriculture

PT Merapi Tani Instruments (Mertani) is a company engaged in providing IoT (Internet of Things) and analytics solutions for plantation or agricultural companies. Mertani owns the Airi platform that combines IoT solutions, big data and automation systems.

Mertani is a service based in Yogyakarta, founded by Yustafat Fawzi and Dualim Atma Dewangga, two UGM alumni who have had experience working in palm oil companies. Starting from research and experiments since 2016, Mertani has finally been taken seriously as a business since the beginning of this year.

According to Yustafat, Mertani is currently developing an IoT solution, both hardware and software designed to solve company problems in the agricultural sector. This product from Mertani is Airi, a product precision agriculture which combines sensor technology, IoT, big data analytics, automation.

Airi is prepared to help farmers or plantation companies know firsthand and detail the condition of the plants so that they can achieve efficiency in operations, make decisions and increase garden productivity. The Airi platform consists of Airi Sensors, Airi Software (mobile and desktop) and automation systems (automated irrigation).

The role of Airi sensors in the Airi platform is to function as a microclimate data acquisition device that can work or take measurements statically or dynamically with respect to soil moisture content, soil nutrient content, PH, soil temperature, ambient temperature, environmental humidity, light intensity and other data.

"[Later] the information will beupload regularly to cloud. Plantation managers can read analysis of land conditions from Water that has been provided. Airi can work in remote areas where there is no electricity connection or a limited internet network," Yustafat explained.

Yustafat further explained that his party also provides the option of an automatic irrigation system that is connected automatically wireless with Airi sensors. The irrigation system can provide water automatically based on recommendations from the Airi sensor so that water supply can be more accurate and in accordance with plant needs.

Currently Mertani is focusing on the plantation and agriculture company segment and has not focused on farmers or plantations directly.

"We are optimistic because companies in the agricultural sector are less than optimal and effective in making decisions regarding land because data acquisition is very manual, expensive, and slow," added Yustafat.