V
Loading...
Loading...
Loading...
Smart Farming for Food Security
Satellite imagery analysis and IoT-driven solutions helping smallholder farmers increase yields, reduce waste, and adapt to climate change.
100K+
Farmers Reached
40%
Yield Increase
25%
Input Reduction
45%
Income Growth
Smallholder farmers produce 80% of Africa's food but face mounting challenges: unpredictable weather, pests and diseases, and limited access to agronomic expertise. Climate change is making these challenges worse every year.
Precision agriculture—using data and technology to make farming more accurate and efficient—has transformed commercial farming globally. Our research focuses on making these benefits accessible to smallholder farmers through satellite imagery, affordable sensors, and mobile-first delivery.
Our work combines remote sensing, computer vision, and on-ground sensor networks to give farmers actionable insights about their crops, delivered through simple interfaces in local languages.
Understanding the unique obstacles we're working to overcome.
Increasingly unpredictable rainfall and temperature patterns make traditional farming knowledge less reliable.
Crop losses from pests and diseases average 30-40% annually, with early detection key to prevention.
Farmers often over- or under-apply water, fertilizer, and pesticides due to lack of precise information.
Smallholders struggle to access fair markets and optimize their planting decisions for market demand.
The methods and techniques we've developed to address these challenges.
Computer vision models analyzing satellite and drone imagery for crop health, disease detection, and yield estimation.
Low-cost, solar-powered sensors measuring soil moisture, temperature, and other key variables.
Recommendations delivered via USSD and simple Android apps in local languages, working offline.
Continuous model improvement through farmer-reported outcomes and ground-truth validation.
Measurable outcomes from our research and deployments.
100K+
Farmers Reached
Our precision agriculture platform serves over 100,000 smallholder farmers across East Africa.
40%
Yield Increase
Farmers using our platform see average yield increases of 40% compared to control groups.
25%
Input Reduction
Optimized recommendations reduce water and fertilizer usage by 25% while improving yields.
45%
Income Growth
Net farmer income increases by 45% through better yields and reduced input costs.
Okafor, Z., Banda, M., et al.
Banda, M., Okafor, Z., et al.
Precision agriculture platform for 10,000+ coffee farmers in central Kenya.
Partners:
Kenya Coffee Board, GIZ
Regional early warning system using satellite imagery to detect crop disease outbreaks.
Partners:
FAO, CGIAR
Zara Okafor
Research Lead
Michael Banda
Remote Sensing Specialist
We're always looking for collaborators, partners, and talented researchers to advance this work.