Henry Gichobi, a rice farmer in central Kenya, relies on an artificial intelligence tool called Virtual Agronomist to assess soil fertility and optimize yields. Developed by the global nonprofit Innovative Solutions for Decision Agriculture, the tool allows farmers like Gichobi to communicate via a chatbot on WhatsApp. “Using satellite information, the app analyzes data to ...

Across Sub-Saharan Africa, a quiet revolution is underway. Smallholder farmers are increasingly leveraging Artificial Intelligence (AI), once a futuristic concept, to transform agriculture. AI now plays a crucial role in addressing the region’s most pressing challenges: food insecurity, environmental degradation, and economic inequality. The transformative power of AI in modern agriculture Globally, AI in agriculture is ...

Black African woman farmer in traditional clothing standing in a large corn crop in Africa/getty One fundamental way to contrast the impact of artificial intelligence is to look at its applications in different industries – in healthcare, and education, in national administration – another way is to look at it on a regional basis. We ...

Image source: Gallo/Getty Agriculture remains the bedrock of the global economy, yet it’s also one of the sectors most vulnerable to climate change. As droughts become more frequent and food insecurity rises, Artificial Intelligence (AI) has emerged as a promising solution to help farmers adapt to these challenges. Artificial intelligence innovations are already transforming agriculture, providing ...

Sunflower farm in Tanzania/ISDA Africa With over seven million small farmers in Kenya without the support they need, one company has developed an artificial intelligence app whose mission is to raise their incomes. Beyond Africa, AI is beginning to infiltrate the fields and just might save the industry. As a growing trend, AI chat technology ...

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has caused a shift in the way we approach problems and conduct business globally. From healthcare and finance to agriculture and logistics, AI is reshaping industries at a fast pace. The African continent, known for its unique challenges and potential, is no exception to this transformation. While AI adoption brings promising opportunities, ...

AI encompasses various technologies, with Machine Learning (ML), Deep Learning (DL), and Generative AI (GenAI) being the driving forces (Figure 1). However, recent discussions around AI have predominantly focused on GenAI due to its ability to create new content such as text, images, and music by identifying patterns from extensive datasets available on the internet. ...

Image:Unsplash A 2022 report by the World Bank identified a critical barrier to improving agricultural practices in Africa: the scarcity of environmental data. This lack of information on factors like soil quality, rainfall patterns, and pest prevalence makes it difficult for farmers to make informed decisions about planting, irrigation, and pest control. This data gap ultimately hinders ...

[Source Photo: Getty Images] Amini uses local AI workstations to process data, saving on cloud costs and employing engineers who understand the target market. Farmers need data to monitor and predict everything that goes into affecting their crops from drought and flood conditions to soil health and temperature fluctuations. But for many—particularly those in developing nations—such ...

In the village of Ndodo, 40 kilometers south of the Malawian capital Lilongwe, farmers gather in the shade of an acacia tree as a voice over a smartphone tells them how to get rid of a weevil that’s destroying their sweet potato crops. The tips offered by the app in the local language Chichewa is ...