3 Rewarded for AI solutions for crop disease detection

The Ghana Crop Disease Detection Challenge Ecosystem, an initiative to harness Artificial Intelligence (AI) for agricultural innovation has selected and rewarded three winners.

The event, organised by the Responsible AI Lab (RAIL) and FAIR Forward (GIZ) in Accra, saw the winners showcasing cutting-edge AI solutions for identifying various crop diseases.

These innovative solutions leveraged lightweight, offline AI models capable of detecting and isolating crop diseases with remarkable precision.

One standout feature was the ability of these models to function in resource-constrained environments, providing actionable insights for smallholder farmers.

Winners

In first place, Ronny Polle and Adeyinka Sotunde took home a cash prize of ₵65,000. Stefan Strydom took the second position and received ₵40,000 as a reward.

Third place went to Raphael Laibuni Kiminya, who received ₵25,000 as a reward.

The event convened key stakeholders in AI, climate change, and agriculture to discuss innovative solutions for sustainable development.

It gathered participants from renowned institutions, including the Crop Research Institute (CRI) under the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MoFA), Plant Protection and Regulatory Services Directorate (PPRSD), 3Farmmate Robotics Limited, VAXUS AI, Zindi, KaraAgro AI, and many others.

Leveraging AI

The Principal Investigator and Scientific Director of the RAIL, Prof. Jerry John Kponyo, mentioned RAIL’s commitment to leveraging AI for the achievement of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), particularly in the areas of health, agriculture, education, energy, illegal mining and inclusion.

Prof. Kponyo highlighted the importance of datasets in AI-driven solutions and noted RAIL's collaboration with the PPRSD and the MoFA to gather Afrocentric datasets on crop diseases.

He announced RAIL's Agrivoltaic Initiative, which integrated farming and solar energy generation with demonstration sites in Tamale and Kumasi.

In his closing remarks, Prof. Kponyo encouraged stakeholders to adopt innovative solutions and announced RAIL’s pilot farm initiative to deploy AI tools for real-world testing.

Addressing Climate Change

The Vice-Chair of the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Working Group, Prof. Nana Ama Browne Klutse, delivered an engaging presentation on the role of technology in addressing climate change.

She stressed the devastating effects of climate change on agriculture, particularly in Ghana where most farmers practise rainfed agriculture.

Prof. Klutse also outlined how AI can help create actionable climate models, improve predictions, and optimise systems and called for investment in AI infrastructure, capacity building, and inclusive approaches involving smallholder farmers, women and the youth in developing solutions.

For his part, Technical Adviser for FAIR Forward, GIZ, Mr Elikplim Sabblah, reaffirmed GIZ’s commitment to advancing AI in Ghana and beyond.