Better yield, less disease: AI is changing the game for African farmers
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 intends to turn agriculture “smart,” as it must be. One African company, iSDA, intends to deliver crop insights, nutrient plans, and agronomic advice, such as how much fertilizer to use, as per a report by The Guardian.
The goal is simple: improve yields. Some believe AI will transform agriculture, while others worry about losing indigenous methods of working on the land. But the results show that it’s working to a great extent.
Technology is saving farms
Overall, the main problems facing farmers globally include determining what their soil needs and what is threatening their crops, i.e. pests and diseases.
So these apps, not just in Africa, either, as the BBC reported earlier this year, US farms, too, stand to benefit from having invaluable information at their fingertips to mitigate declining yields.
Normally, local governments support farmers by providing “agricultural extension officers” who educate them, except there are hardly any in Africa, which makes this sector particularly needing disruption. But that goes across the board, as the world keeps growing and needs to eat.
Profitability and yield returns are threatening the industry’s stability, and though every country, if not region, faces its particular challenges, we’re seeing farmers snapping pictures of their crops and speaking to chat boxes to revive the industry. It might appear like a strange site, farmers with smartphones, but chatbox technology has already become somewhat ubiquitous, so it makes perfect sense to direct it toward the industry that sustains us.
As The Guardian explains, Virtual Agronomist’s AI is fed images and data, including satellite data, to equip farmers with the precise data they need to make the best decisions for their soil. According to their website, they factor in local knowledge of yields and scientific knowledge of the crop and region.
Furthermore, they use a “lead farmer” model, which also makes the app applicable to the surrounding plots, maybe to share the wealth, as their mission is to increase profit yields.
Concerning local practices, this app seems to include that culture in its AI model, perhaps addressing some of the fears of losing that lineage. But most, according to The Guardian, don’t include that element of “indigenous knowledge.”
AI might be a game changer for farmers
Regardless of jitters, since introducing any new technology tends to come with reservations, iSDA’s app Virtual Agronomist shows us that it works. One farmer in Africa used another AI system called FarmShield to instruct him when to water his cucumbers, and it made a big difference.
So farmers need education. That’s one of the purposes of this technology. Technically, local governments provide that. But since, in some cases, they can’t the industry, in general, seems to need help, especially in the wake of climate change. AI for farmers seems to be filling a necessary gap. And in Africa, specifically, this appears to be a “game-changer,” as one farmer put it, according to The Guardian report.
Source: Interesting Engineering
Boston Dynamics updates robot dog Spot to detect leaks, check equipment health
Better yield, less disease: AI is changing the game for African farmers/Better yield, less disease: AI is changing the game for African farmers