Nyuchi
Infrastructure for African weather intelligence
The engine behind mukoko weather.
Rima uchiziva. Farm knowing.
A solar-powered ESP32 weather station that costs less than a bag of seed. Deployed by farmers, trusted by communities, feeding Africa's first open agricultural data commons.
Two kits
Start simple. Grow into the full picture.
Every StationKit is two parts: the hardware — sensors, solar, and a weatherproof enclosure — and the software that connects it to the Nyuchi platform and the open bundu commons. That connection layer is the same one existing stations plug into below — no hardware required.
Basic
from $25
indicative kit price
The entry point. Three core atmospheric readings that feed hyperlocal forecasting — solar, sealed, and self-contained.
- ESP32-C3 (WiFi + BLE)
- Temperature & humidity (BME280)
- Barometric pressure
- Solar powered + 18650 battery
- IP65 weatherproof enclosure
Full
from $65
indicative kit price
The dataset that makes Shamwari Weather’s farm advisory genuinely useful — rainfall, wind, and what’s happening underground.
- Everything in Basic
- Tipping bucket rain gauge
- Anemometer + wind vane
- Capacitive soil moisture
- UV / light sensor (optional)
Indicative kit pricing. The final delivered price into Zimbabwe includes freight and ZIMRA import duty, and is confirmed per order — pilot hosts are subsidised, and community hosting is free. Assembled, GSM-equipped, and cooperative bulk options are all part of the pilot. Tell us what you need →
No new hardware
Already have a station? Connect it.
The StationKit is one way onto the network — not the only one. Already run a weather station? Feed its readings into the open bundu commons — any make, no vendor lock-in — and get the same hyperlocal forecasts and Shamwari advisory back, with no new hardware.
Your station improves everyone's forecast nearby; the network improves yours.
Open by design: pick your station type when you upload, or push readings straight to the Nyuchi API. Any make welcome, no lock-in — register your interest and we'll get you set up.
Two ways onto the network
-
Buy a StationKit
Solar, sealed, ready to plant — from $25.
-
Connect your own
Any make of station — via standard upload or the Nyuchi API.
How it works
Four brands, one loop.
- N
nyuchi
Station observes
The StationKit reads its sensors every 5 minutes and stores them locally in flash, syncing to the platform when connectivity is available. Offline-first — it works without internet.
- B
bundu
Data is validated and opened
The Bundu Foundation’s QC pipeline validates observations, blends them with satellite data from Tomorrow.io and Open-Meteo, and publishes back to the global commons.
- M
mukoko
Farmer checks weather
mukoko weather shows hyperlocal forecasts powered by station ground-truth — 265+ locations, six categories, fifty activities.
- S
shamwari
AI advises in Shona
Shamwari Weather tells the farmer what to do: plant now, irrigate tonight, harvest before Friday’s rain — in Shona, Ndebele, or English.
Technical
Built for the field, not the lab.
ESP-IDF firmware on the ESP32-C3, with FreeRTOS task scheduling and deep sleep at ~10µA between readings. A flash ring buffer holds 48 hours of observations, and firmware updates ship over the air — the same device registry and pairing flow as every device in the Nyuchi platform.
- MCU
- ESP32-C3 (RISC-V, WiFi + BLE)
- Framework
- ESP-IDF v5.x (not Arduino)
- Power
- 5V 1W solar + 18650 Li-ion
- Sleep current
- ~10µA (deep sleep)
- Read interval
- 5 min (configurable)
- Sync interval
- Hourly batches (12 readings)
- Local buffer
- ~48 hours in flash
- Connectivity
- WiFi / BLE / GSM add-on
- Enclosure
- IP65 weatherproof
- Firmware updates
- OTA (dual app partitions)
- License
- MIT (open source)
The Bundu Foundation
Open weather for Africa.
Every StationKit contributes to a national agricultural data commons governed by the Bundu Foundation under Ubuntu philosophy. Observations are validated, blended with satellite data, and published back to Open-Meteo — open data for the world.
My station improves your forecast. Your station improves mine. We are all better because each of us contributes.
Ndiri nekuti tiri. I am because we are.
What open means here
- Firmware & hardware
- MIT — inspect, modify, deploy
- Source
- github.com/nyuchi/stationkit
- Weather data
- Validated observations → Open-Meteo
- Governance
- Bundu Foundation (Zimbabwean CLG)
- IP lock
- Cannot be acquired or relicensed
Who it's for
From one hectare to one thousand.
-
Smallholder farmers
A Basic StationKit on your plot. Ask Shamwari Weather when to plant, in Shona. Know the rain is coming before the radio tells you.
-
Cooperatives & commercial farms
Full StationKits across your operation. Soil moisture for irrigation timing, wind for spray windows, rainfall for insurance documentation.
-
Extension services & NGOs
Deploy ten to fifty stations across a district. Dashboard views, data export, API access. Feed national food-security planning.
Pilot programme · 2026
Join the pilot.
We're deploying the first StationKits across Mashonaland, Manicaland, and Matabeleland. Pilot hosts get early access, help shape the product, and put accurate local weather in their community's hands. Smallholder and community hosting is free.