Charles Odhiambo operating a digital sol testing kit. Photo Credit: Zablon Oyugi
By Zablon Oyugi, July 19, 2024, Agriculture activities in Kenya, Nigeria, and South Africa are dominating Artificial Intelligence (AI) applications revealing huge potential socio-economic growth, a new report by the Global System for Mobile Communications Association (GSMA), an association of mobile networks association has indicated.
The report ‘AI for Africa: Use cases delivering impact’ (AI4D Africa), is based on the analysis of over 90 use case applications identified in Kenya, Nigeria, and South Africa – which benefit from thriving tech ecosystems – across agriculture and food security, energy, and climate.
Among the Africa AI use case applications identified, the vast majority are related to agriculture 49 per cent, the report showed.
Developed from existing research and from interviews with leaders across civil society, non-governmental organisations (NGOs), academia and the private sector, it found that the majority of AI use cases in agriculture in the continent involve machine learning (ML) enabled digital advisory services.
This equip farmers with data-driven advice to adopt climate-smart farming practices and optimise productivity.
The solutions typically reach farmers via mobile devices, highlighting the importance of device ownership, digital skills and literacy and user-friendliness.
Emerging viable solutions
While many AI use cases are relatively nascent, with some being deployed as part of projects or pilot schemes, a number of commercially viable solutions have also emerged.
In these solutions, indicates the report, AI is often being incorporated into existing digital products and services, acting as an enabler to make digital solutions more relevant and efficient, amplify their impact, and facilitate scaling
In fact, the agritech sector is seeing most of the AI innovation, especially in Kenya and Nigeria where agriculture continues to play a significant role in the economy.
AI is already being used for agricultural advisory, with companies like TomorrowNow and ThriveAgric providing farm-level insights to farmers, and for financial services with companies like Apollo Agriculture developing alternative credit assessment methods.
Potential of agriculture in growing Africa economies
The new report places the continent in a good position in technology adoption to drive their economies given most households in Africa rely on agriculture to sustain their livelihoods.
Agriculture employs 52 per cent of the African working population and contributes 17 per cent on average to GDP.
In Sub-Saharan Africa, up to 80 per cent of food is produced by smallholder farmers who often use traditional techniques and lack access to information that would help improve yields.
AI applications to boost Africa economic growth by $2.9 trillion by 2030
Today, Africa represents just 2.5 per cent of the global AI market, but emerging applications could boost the continent’s economic growth by $2.9 trillion by 2030.
Other Africa AI use case applications were also identified in areas such as climate action at 26 per cent and energy at 24 per cent.
In Nigeria, for instance, emerging technologies like Internet of Things (IoT) act as an entry point for advanced data analytics in smart energy management.
AI is also supporting climate use cases especially for biodiversity monitoring and wildlife protection in Kenya and South Africa, driven by large tech companies like Microsoft’s AI for Good Lab and nonprofit organisations such as Rainforest Connection.
