A farmer in Kaduna, Nigeria, uses an AI advisory app to decide the best time to plant, part of Africa’s growing smart farming revolution. Photo Credit: Nature News
AI in focus: Every Wednesday, News Scope Africa shines the light on innovative ideas reshaping our continent.
This week, our Innovation Africa Spotlight focuses on how Artificial Intelligence (AI) is sprouting in Africa’s farmlands, offering smallholder farmers new tools to fight hunger, climate shocks, and post-harvest losses.
From smart drones to mobile-based soil tests, local innovators are using AI to improve yields and ensure food security across the continent.
AI and Maize Farmer
In Kaduna State, maize farmer Ibrahim Musa recalls how unpredictable rainfall used to ruin his crops year after year. Now, through an AI-powered advisory app that provides weather forecasts and soil data, he says he is planting with confidence.
Before, I was farming blindly. Sometimes I would plant, and the rain would stop for weeks. Now the app tells me when it is safe to plant, and I don’t waste my seeds anymore, Musa told NewsScope Africa.
Similar stories are emerging in Kenya, where farmers using solar-powered irrigation systems developed by SunCulture report tripling their harvests.
Read Also; Turning Plastic Waste into Affordable Homes: A Nigerian Startup Leads the Way
Embedding AI
One of the trailblazers is Hello Tractor, a Nigerian startup known as the “Uber for tractors.” By embedding AI and Internet-of-Things (IoT) devices in tractors, the platform connects smallholder farmers to affordable mechanization services while also generating predictive data on soil health and yield potential.
Jehiel Oliver, CEO of Hello Tractor, explained the vision:
We are solving two problems at once: the lack of access to tractors and the need for real-time agricultural data. With AI, farmers no longer guess, they know what their land needs.
Agricultural policy
Agricultural policy experts argued that AI could be the missing link in bridging Africa’s productivity gap. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), climate change could reduce African crop yields by 20% in the coming decades. But with AI-enabled systems, farmers can adapt faster.
Dr. Amina Yusuf, an agricultural innovation researcher at Ahmadu Bello University, told News Scope Africa:
AI is making smallholder farmers more resilient. From predicting pest infestations to guiding irrigation, these tools save time and resources. The challenge is scaling them up so they are affordable for rural farmers.
Rural Connectivity Gaps
Despite its promise, experts caution that barriers remain. Rural connectivity gaps, high costs of devices, and low digital literacy could slow down adoption.
Chinwe Nwokolo, a digital agriculture advocate, suggests partnerships between governments and private innovators:
Subsidies and farmer training will be key. If governments can invest in AI tools like they did with fertilizers in the past, then millions of farmers will benefit.
Looking Ahead
Across Africa, young innovators are already seizing the challenge. From Ghana’s AI soil-mapping startups to Rwanda’s drone-powered crop monitoring, the continent is rewriting its agricultural story.
As a farmer Musa puts it, “With this technology, my children may never know hunger the way we did.”
And in a continent where nearly 60% of the population depends on agriculture for survival, AI may indeed be the silent revolution shaping Africa’s next harvest.
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