George George Idowu
Six students from Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaria, have emerged as the second-place winners at the prestigious FCMB Agrictech Hackathon 2024.
The team, named ‘AgroGuardians’, secured the runner-up spot with a prize of two million Naira for their innovative solution aimed at revolutionizing crop disease detection in northern Nigeria.
Their project, an AI-based device called ‘CropDiseaseDetector’, impressed the judges with its ability to assist farmers in detecting crop diseases at an early stage.
Designed specifically to cater to crops grown in northern Nigeria, the tool offers farmers real-time disease detection even in remote areas, thanks to its ability to function offline, only requiring an internet connection for occasional updates.
The system not only identifies a wide range of crop diseases but also provides actionable recommendations to help farmers address them.
The team behind this invention comprises six students from various disciplines at ABU:
Sufiyanu Ibrahim (Department of Computer Engineering),
Hadiza Mohammed (Department of Computer Science),
Salim Babangida (Department of Water Resources and Environmental Engineering), Lawal Uzairu (Department of Electrical Engineering), Abubakar Taufik (Faculty of Agriculture), and
Abdulfattah Omisanya (Department of Agricultural and Bio-resources Engineering).
The award ceremony took place on Monday, 30th September 2024, at the Primrose Tower, FCMB Head Office in Lagos. Sufiyanu Ibrahim collected the prize on behalf of the team and the university.
The FCMB Agrictech Hackathon is a competition focused on addressing key challenges in the agricultural sector, such as inadequate infrastructure, limited access to credit for small-scale farmers, and slow adoption of technology.
This year’s edition saw over 1,400 submissions from registered businesses, teams of developers, and individual developers representing more than 20 countries.
The ‘CropDiseaseDetector’ not only offers immediate utility for the northern Nigerian agricultural sector but also holds potential for expansion, with the ability to adapt to different crops and accommodate regional variations in disease prevalence.
By providing an affordable and user-friendly solution, the AgroGuardians’ innovation could contribute significantly to improving productivity and sustainability in the region’s farming communities.
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