Alliance of AI & Agriculture-A new force for the future in Africa

Agriculture is critical to Africa’s economic development. Over 60% of Sub-Saharan Africans are smallholder farmers, and agriculture accounts for nearly a quarter of the continent’s GDP. While agriculture serves an important role in the region, there is still a lot of opportunity for improvement and modernization. According to one study, Africa could produce two to three times the amount of wheat and grains it does now. Horticulture crops and livestock production can both be predicted in the same way. Increased productivity would, among other things, result in improved food security, higher household incomes, and more resilient farms. Artificial Intelligence (AI) may play a key role in achieving this higher output objective.

Agriculture has a lot of promise thanks to AI. Farmers have been able to enhance yield with less input, improve output quality, and implement speedier go-to-market strategies thanks to AI-based technological solutions.
Farmers used 75 million AI devices globally in 2020, according to https://www.kdhi-agriculture.com/single-post/an-overview-of-ai-technologies-in-african-agriculture, and the average farm will collect 4.1 million data points per day by 2050, according to https://www.kdhi-agriculture.com/single-post/an-overview-of-ai-technologies-in-african-agriculture. Crop yield, irrigation, soil content sensing, crop monitoring, weeding, and crop establishment are just a few of the agricultural applications that AI may help with.

Climate change is causing more modern technology to be required in Africa. Between 2001 and 2011, Africa experienced half of the droughts brought on by anthropogenic climate change. Drought predictions can be improved by artificial intelligence, and the impact of global warming on African farming communities can be lessened. Small-scale rural farmers rely primarily on subsistence farming, therefore their crops must be able to withstand drought and other unpredictably changing weather conditions. These requirements may be met using AI.

WHAT IS PRECISION AGRICULTURE?

Precision agriculture is the most well-known application of AI technology in agriculture. This artificial intelligence technology is used to detect pests, diseases, and nutritional deficiencies in plants. The system can detect and target weeds, decide the type and amount of herbicide required, and apply it in the appropriate zone. This extremely effective technique reduces pesticide misuse, resulting in fewer poisons ending up in the food humans eat. Precision agriculture is rarely used in Africa, but efforts are being made to enhance capability. The African Conference on Precision Agriculture, which took place in December 2020, brought together essential stakeholders to accelerate the capacity-building of precision agriculture in Africa. Smart farming, also known as precision farming, is causing a seismic shift in the way farmers to manage their crops throughout the year and across all crop cycles around the world.

CONCEPT OF PRECISION AGRICULTURE

Precision farming entails using satellite technology to:

1. Effectively manage crops, water, fields, irrigation, and soil templates in order to generate high-yielding crop products.
2. Reduce the environmental damage caused by chemical cultivation.
3. It improves crop cycle management by making farming more precise and controlled.
4. Aids in the efficient management and raising of animals.
5. In a land and labor-intensive industry like agriculture, implementing smart technology has become essential for farmers to produce a high crop yield.

Smart farming is accomplished by utilizing a variety of smart technological tools, many of which heavily rely on artificial intelligence as their primary technology. In a land- and labor-intensive industry like agriculture, implementing smart technology has become essential for farmers to produce a high crop yield. E.g of applications of smart farming includes;

1. GPS Guidance
2. Control Systems
3. Sensors
4. Robotics
5. Drones
6. Autonomous Vehicles
7. Variable Rate Technology
8. GPS-based Soil Mapping
9. Automated Hardware & Software
10. Telematics

These are some of the AI-powered technologies that enable smart farming and precision agronomics, which is a notion that effectively integrates farming methodology and technology. Precision farming is anticipated to increase to $43.4 billion by 2025, according to new research by Hexa Reports.

KEY BENEFITS OF ADOPTING PRECISION FARMING

There is no turning back since the introduction of GPS-guided tractors to the farming industry in the early 1990s. Precision farming has aided farmers in overcoming the uncertainty that all farming entails. AI-powered precision farming is based on three variables that farmers aspire to fulfill in order to produce a high-yielding crop with minimal environmental impact.

1. Sustainability — Since the dawn of time, every farmer has strived to achieve sustainable farming, and this is especially true now when pandemic hard times have arrived. Sustainable farming aids in the management of farming’s social, economic, and environmental consequences. Precision farming aids in the management and attainment of the ideal balance between these factors on the path to long-term sustainability.
2. Efficiency — Precision farming aids in the measurement of farming performance and the introduction of new ideas to make farming more efficient.
3. Productivity — Smart farming aids productivity by controlling the soil profile, water quality, discovering the best irrigation systems that utilize the least amount of water while yielding the most output, and anticipating any unpredictable weather conditions to prevent the crop from failing.
4. Profitability —Precision farming enables farmers to choose crops strategically for the upcoming crop cycle based on weather forecasts, soil quality, and water table management in order to maximize yield. It aids in understanding agricultural costs and margins, as well as taking full advantage of market prospects.

Now let’s take a look at how AI-powered automated farming solutions can help:

1. By adopting variable rate technology (VRT): The four components that makeup VRT are a computer, software, a controller, and a differential global positioning system (DGPS).VRT uses these components to implement the following three ways that encourage variable input applications and allow farmers to control the input for a given location:

i. Map-based Approach
ii. Sensor-based Approach
iii. Manual Approach

VRT examines the soil and allows geo-referenced satellite photos to efficiently place seed and fertilizers across fields. By gathering and analyzing data, VRT aids in the tracking of performance. The yield produced per crop cycle, as well as the return on investment, assist farmers in making educated decisions for the following season.

An agricultural machinery using VRT

2. GPS Soil Sampling: Soil sampling allows farmers to examine the soil template, including soil nutrients, pH level, and a variety of other data, in order to make informed and lucrative crop yield decisions. The information gathered from soil sample is utilized to program variable rate treatments to optimize seeding and fertilizer application.

A hydraulic Wintex 1000 sampling machine mounted on a quad bike

3. Computer-based applications- Precision farm plans, field maps, crop scouting, and yield maps are all created using AI-powered computer-based programs. The data collected is fed into variable rate applications, which help calculate the number of insecticides, fertilizers, and herbicides to use in order to maximize yields while lowering costs. It also allows farmers to undertake ecologically friendly operations and move closer to achieving long-term farming sustainability.

The use of remote sensing technology

HOW CAN YOU BE PRECISION FARMING READY?

Farmers could turn to IT consulting organizations with expertise and experience in lending smart farming solutions. They want to use smart farming technology in their fields as well. Farmers should seek out and cooperate with IT consulting organizations that have a track record of providing farmers with successful precision agronomic supplies. IT consulting services assist in the understanding and proper use of smart farming equipment in order to maximize profits. To properly harness the potential of data, the IT consulting specialists efficiently manage the farming data by connecting all of the data, categorizing it, and storing it in one place.

The four simple steps to precision farming readiness are as follows:

1. Assess the soil — Conduct annual soil testing to ensure that the soil is in good health and has the right mix of nutrients and pH for the forthcoming crop cycles.
2. Variable-rate technology (VRT) — Increase agricultural productivity by utilizing the data produced to feed VRT-enabled applications.
3. Manage the farm data platform — Connects farming practices to critical farm records to deliver better results season after season.
4. AI-powered mobile app — A smart app that allows for the capture of exact field observations and recommendations, as well as the making of educated decisions.

In Africa, many AI methods have already been implemented. In Kenya, for example, some farmers use near-infrared cameras attached to drones to detect pests and diseases, among other things. Nuru, an AI tool in beta in Kenya, may be used on Android devices with or without internet. This method detects crop diseases, such as cassava mite and viral diseases and maize armyworm infections. This technique has already benefited 28,000 cassava growers in Kenya.

Where does precision farming go from here?

AI-powered technology can harness data and use analytics to make better-informed decisions to achieve high agricultural yields, thanks to the quantity of data available to farmers.
Zummit Africa’s consultants will assist you in identifying and implementing the most effective AI-powered precision farming approaches to increase agricultural yields. Connect with us today to learn more about our AI-powered precision agricultural solutions.

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