In 2017, an outbreak of fall armyworm in Ghana severely impacted the country's agriculture industry, with a loss of around $64 million.

Having previously built a predictive analytic model that leverages artificial intelligence (AI) to diagnose and predict breast cancer, I believed that AI had the potential to prevent such a large-scale pest infestation from happening again.

So, in 2018, at 19 years old, I co-founded Okuafo Foundation to help farmers produce more by cutting down on disease and pests using AI.

With 60% of the planet's arable land and significant untapped agricultural potential, Africa could become the world's breadbasket. Unfortunately, although rapid progress has been made recently, hunger, poverty, and lack of access to resources and infrastructure are still major problems.

This affects none more so than the subsistence farmers who make up the majority of the rural poor in sub-Saharan Africa. These farmers must battle the elements daily in order to feed their families. 

Committed to helping these communities, my team and I used drones and ground-based stations to  map 151 farms in the Ahafo Region of Ghana. Based on our findings, one of the critical issues we  identified was that subsistence farmers lacked access to reliable information and real-time help  regarding pest control and disease management.  

Combining the data gathered with machine learning, the Okuafo Foundation AI App gives these small-scale farmers easy access to expert-level knowledge at the touch of a button – with or without internet connectivity. Our platform uses a unique user interface design that allows farmers to take a  photo of any crops that they suspect to be diseased, and with an average accuracy of over 90%, it can predict whether a given image is healthy or infested.

The farmer can then obtain further insights delivered in the form of an animated video in a local dialect that explains how they should handle the infestation. This allows farmers with poor literacy to interact with the app and get actionable feedback on how to care for their crops.  

Mr Kwasi Fobi represents the positive impact our app is having on the lives of subsistence farmers. He is a 56-year-old cashew farmer from Akumadan Afrancho, a village in the Ashanti Region of Ghana.  Unfortunately, in recent years, Mr Kwasi's growing health conditions have prevented him from working

in the field, and he was forced to hire labourers, which increased his production cost. Other factors such as pests, fertiliser cost, weed invasion and irrigation failures further reduced his output, leading to grave economic hardship, for him and his family.  

However, since using our app, Mr Fobi's life has changed significantly. Through the platform, he received insights into what was happening with his crops. The resulting pre-emptive actions he took saved him a significant amount of money, and his harvest yield increased by 138% compared to the previous season.

Since then, Mr Fobi and his family have become experts on technology. They are now Okuafo Foundation ambassadors in their community, spreading awareness and highlighting  AI's benefits to fellow smallholder farmers while helping them effectively manage their crops. 

So far, we have trained 2,184 farmers to utilise our AI app and implement effective pest control. We have mapped over 2,000 hectares of agricultural farmland to check the accuracy of remotely sensed data, benefiting 522 farmers, who witnessed a 50% production cost reduction coupled with a 40% increase in yield.

Approximately 14,430 people now have access to safe and nutritious food.  In addition to this, 4,600 farmers participated in our COVID-19 awareness programmes, which included tackling misinformation about the virus and alternative ways of making reusable face masks.  

In recognition of the app's contribution to Ghana's food security, Okuafo Foundation was awarded the 2020 Zayed Sustainability Prize under the ‘Food’ category. This award acknowledges and rewards global pioneers and innovators who are committed to accelerating impactful sustainable solutions. 

It also encourages youth to pursue an active role in supporting their communities and becoming future sustainability leaders by empowering them to reach their full potential. And this is certainly what it has done for us.  

Previously, our greatest challenge was expanding our platform to reach more smallholder farmers, as most of them are in extremely remote locations that are spread across the country.

Scaling our initiatives meant funding the expansion of our server infrastructure, cloud-based platforms, field officers and trainers. The Prize has allowed us to do this and more.  

The Prize has been instrumental in enabling us to develop a solar-powered plant disease detection kit, including a low-cost smartphone. These kits are serving small villages of twenty to fifty farmers with one smartphone. Assigned 'farmer leaders' like Mr Fobi assist those without a smartphone to scan their farms. With our increased capacity, we are also developing new ideas and partnering with  Governments and other organisations for greater impact. 

Okuafo Foundation is proving that digital solutions offer excellent potential for precision agriculture 

and mitigating the effects of climate change and other crises faced by vulnerable communities in  Africa. When small-scale farmers have access to a real-time scientific knowledge base, families in rural areas can enjoy regular access to vital information and nutritious meals, poverty is reduced,  and food security, in general, is strengthened.

To encourage this kind of inclusivity, it is essential that policymakers and investors support young innovators like me through access to affordable data and the promotion and support of technical skills like coding.  

The Zayed Sustainability Prize is now open to innovators across Africa, spanning small to medium enterprises (SMEs), non-profit organisations, and high schools, with sustainable solutions across Health, Food, Energy and Water. Enter today by visiting www.zayedsustainabilityprize.com – deadline 6^th May 2021. 

SME’s and non-profits must enter an existing sustainability solution in one of the Health, Food,  Energy, or Water categories. The Global High Schools category invites student-led projects or proposals, based on one or more of the four aforementioned sustainability sectors.

The author, Mustapha Diyaol-Haqq is the Co-Founder of Okuafo Foundation & Food Category Winner of the 2020 Zayed Sustainability Prize