Sustainability Institute and MyBitSecure Launch Smart Agriculture Pilot to Advance Soil Health and Sustainable Food Production

The Sustainability Institute (SI) partnered with African agritech innovator MyBitSecure to pilot smart agriculture technology at the SI's community garden in Lynedoch.

The three-month pilot started in February and concluded in April 2026 and was led by MyBitSecure in collaboration with the SI's garden team.

Smart Agriculture Technology In Action

The project utilised MyBitSecure's IoT-enabled MBS SmartFarm Platform which is a real-time soil and environmental monitoring system that provides live data on soil moisture, acidity (pH), electrical conductivity, and temperature.

The platform also tracks water usage per irrigation session and integrates with a live weather feed.

The information helps the garden team know when rain is forecast so there is no unnecessary watering which will help reduce water consumption and give a running estimate of water costs over time.

Using the MBS SmartFarm Platform technology and information is particularly valuable as Cape Town and surrounding areas continue to face water scarcity pressures.

For the SI's garden team, this meant moving from guessing to knowing exactly when the garden’s soil needs water, when pH levels are shifting, and when intervention is needed before any harm is caused.

Addressing Soil Health And Water Scarcity

The timing of this collaboration reflects a growing global urgency around soil health.

Modern industrial agriculture has left soils depleted, compacted, and less biologically diverse, with agriculture identified as the leading global driver of soil degradation.

Research increasingly points to regenerative agriculture's potential to enhance ecosystem services by increasing soil carbon storage, enhancing biodiversity, and improving crop nutrient quality.

For our community garden that grows in an increasingly water-stressed environment, data-driven soil management can help us achieve better results.

The benefits are practical and they offer the SI an opportunity to explore the integration of smart agriculture technologies into its learning programmes and research initiatives.

Lessons learned during the pilot will be documented for potential scale-up and possible joint research publications, deepening the SI's role as a hub for innovation in sustainable food systems.

Building A Framework For Innovation

"The goal of this collaboration is to establish a framework that bridges technology and purpose," said Mulweli Nethengwe the SI’s Research and Strategy Analyst.

"As an Imaginarium for social and ecological innovation, the SI intentionally bridges imagination and action by grounding ideas in lived, place-based practice.

The integration of smart agriculture technologies within our garden is not only about improving yields and resource management, but also about deepening experiential learning, where children, youth, and adult learners engage with technology and ecological systems, equipping themselves with an understanding of the relationship between soil health, water use, biodiversity, and food security in real time.

This practice-based approach allows our garden team and learners to test, observe, and adapt in real time, transforming the garden into a living laboratory for innovation.

Technologies such as the MBS SmartFarm Platform strengthen this work by making invisible processes visible, enabling more informed decision-making while cultivating systems thinking.

For SI, these tools are important not as ends in themselves, but as enablers of agency, equipping learners and practitioners to respond to environmental challenges with insight, creativity, and responsibility.”

Expanding Smart Farming Across Africa

MyBitSecure, brings IoT-driven monitoring, automation, and cybersecurity to farms across the continent.

The MBS SmartFarm Platform is designed specifically for African conditions, including areas with limited connectivity, offering solar-powered sensors and offline data logging alongside industrial-grade data security.

Next Steps Following The Pilot

Following the completion of the pilot, the next phase will focus on building the team's capacity to use the platform independently and embedding data-driven soil management into the SI's ongoing garden practice and learning programmes.

For more information about MyBitSecure, visit https://www.mybitsecure.com

https://www.sustainabilityinstitute.net