In the middle of a field, far away from the big cities, and often without any internet connection, how can technology serve any purpose to the farmers working the land? One Ghanaian teenager has an answer to that question.
Mustapha Diyaol-Haqq, the co-founder of Okuafo Foundation turned to his smartphone for a solution and created the Okuafo AI application using Artificial Intelligence (AI) to help small farm owners in rural Africa.
The app doesn’t need an internet connection and it can help farmers diagnose diseases in crops at an early stage. Launched in 2018, it has already helped some 30,000 farmers reduce their crop losses and improve their harvest by 50% in Ghana, Nigeria, Togo and Burkina Faso.
The app picked up the prize in the food category of the Zayed Sustainability Prize, the UAE’s global award on sustainability that honours leaders whose work and spirit of enterprise have led to innovative solutions across communities around the world. The Okuafo Foundation was awarded $600,000 in prize funds to enhance their existing solution and develop their other sustainability projects. Read more…
