AI for Climate-Smart Farming & Women Empowerment
Photo Credit: Kwara State University
Overview
This project deploys AI-driven weather prediction tools to help rural women navigate the growing unpredictability of rainfed agriculture—turning climate data into economic resilience.
Shifting rainfall patterns are devastating smallholder farmers across West Africa, with women disproportionately bearing the cost of failed harvests. Without reliable forecasts, rural households plant too early or too late, losing entire seasons to avoidable errors that deepen poverty and food insecurity.
The project delivers accurate, localised predictions on the onset and duration of the rainy season, enabling women farmers to plan ahead and avoid costly planting mistakes. Built through co-creation with farmers, government stakeholders, and gender-inclusive hackathons, the tools are designed to be relevant and community-owned. Open-source predictive models, hosted on GitHub, allow researchers globally to replicate and scale the approach across similar contexts.
Early results show increased adoption of digital farming tools among women in the region, with measurable gains in agricultural planning and household economic resilience. By combining responsible AI design with grassroots co-creation, the project offers a replicable model for climate adaptation that places women farmers at the centre of the solution.