How AI is Revolutionizing Smallholder Farming in Africa with FarmerAI
In 2024, Opportunity's Ulangizi AI chatbot sparked real change for farmers in rural Malawi by delivering real-time, region-specific agricultural insights, helping farmers increase their yields, boost resilience, and improve their bottom lines. For smallholder farmers living in some of the most remote regions on the continent, this type of tool can be life-changing. In its first year, thousands of farmers used the app to improve their harvests and build new pathways to prosperity.
And while 2024 proved that a single spark of innovation can brighten the lives of thousands, 2025 is the time to expand and enhance that impact across Africa. This February, Opportunity International’s Digital Innovation Group embarked on a tour of the continent to extend our efforts in Malawi and launch two new pilots for FarmerAI, the newest edition of Ulangizi. In partnership with some of the most influential institutions in their markets, FarmerAI will reach more people, access more information, and help even more farmers across the continent.
FarmerAI Expands to Kenya Through Safaricom Partnership
It all started with a trip to Nairobi, where Opportunity CTO Greg Nelson signed an official agreement with Safaricom to launch FarmerAI in Kenya. As Kenya’s leading telecommunications provider, Safaricom serves tens of millions of users, including thousands of smallholder farmers. In partnership with Safaricom’s DigiFarm product—which already supports farmers nationwide Opportunity International launched FarmerAI’s first pilot in Kenya, providing AI-powered agricultural guidance to potato farmers.
“We live in an exciting time of rapid growth thanks to artificial intelligence and machine learning, and ensuring that this technology supports the most vulnerable among us is our priority,” said Chief Technology Officer Greg Nelson. “But understanding our end-users is the most critical part of the puzzle. Thanks to Safaricom and DigiFarm, we have authoritative data that can help us understand the best practices for Kenyan farmers—and better understand the farmers themselves.”
Scaling FarmerAI in Ghana with Development Bank Ghana
That same week, the team joined Development Bank Ghana (DBG) for a similar partnership launch in Accra. In the first phase of the Ghana pilot, 100 agricultural extension officers will use FarmerAI’s AI-driven chatbot to provideregion-specific farming guidance, helping hundreds of rice farmers increase ields and prevent plant diseases. The collaboration also involves GIRSAL, an agricultural institution developed by the Malawian Ministry of Finance, which will provide authoritative data so FarmerAI Ghana can deliver hyper-specific guidance to farmers in the region.
“It’s particularly exciting to see our work expanding to Kenya and Ghana, which is my home country,” said Dr. William Derban, Opportunity’s Head of Programs and Partnerships with the Digital Innovation Group. “It’s important to note that these two nations are high-growth countries on the continent but still rely heavily on their agricultural sectors. By putting FarmerAI into the hands of smallholder farmers in these countries, we are both combatting poverty and strengthening economies for years to come.”
The Future of AI in Farming
Together, these two new pilots will expand access to invaluable knowledge for some of the most underserved communities on earth. Too often, rural smallholder farmers in low- and middle-income nations face major barriers to the information that could help them build more adaptable and profitable farms. If farmers have questions about crops or livestock, they often must travel long distances hoping to find an agricultural expert at a government office—and then hope that person has the answers. Through these cross-sector partnerships, Opportunity International’s FarmerAI reduces that search time to mere moments.
After initial testing in these pilot stages, further technological and social innovations will be designed to make these applications even more accessible. In Malawi, where Opportunity’s first AI chatbot launched, team members Rich Moe and Ama Akuamoah traveled to Lilongwe to begin the next chapter of Ulangizi.
The team hopes to quadruple the number of Farmer Support Agents, community farmers who are trained by Opportunity to cascade their knowledge to their fellow farmers, using the chatbot by the end of 2025.
“Smallholder farmers are a lifeline to food security globally,” said Ama Akuamoah, DIG Director of Market Engagement. “In places like Malawi, we work directly with smallholders because they know what is best for their business. These people grow most of their nation’s food, like their counterparts across Africa, and hold the input that can help us strengthen entire food systems.”
Opportunity International’s AI-driven farming solutions are transforming smallholder agriculture, providing a scalable, human-centered AI model that empowers the most vulnerable farmers. Thanks to the courage of local institutions like Safaricom and DBG, that spark is catching fire. We look forward to the year ahead and to watching these new technologies spread into the hands of thousands more—strengthening not only farmers, but their families, their communities, and their economies.