As part of the GRAIN project, a webinar focusing on «Agritech and AI: involving women to achieve sustainable agriculture in Africa» was held on 10 September 2025 via Zoom.
The meeting highlighted the potential of AI to transform agriculture and empower women, provided that the technologies are inclusive and tailored to local needs.
Consequently, collaboration and the deliberate inclusion of women in the development of AI are considered essential to achieving gender equality and sustainable development in sub-Saharan Africa.
The aim of the webinar was to reflect collectively on the challenges and opportunities associated with integrating gender considerations into digital and AI-based innovations in agriculture, but also to present practical examples, analyse the specific barriers faced by women and explore inclusive strategies, whilst fostering dialogue between researchers, farmers, gender experts and policy-makers.
Moderated by Dr Marame Cissé, a gender expert at IPAR, this webinar brought together Joel Nwakaire (Nigeria), a professor of agricultural engineering and renewable energy; Daouda Seck (Senegal), an agricultural engineer and expert in agricultural value chains; Mutiat Mohamed (Nigeria), a researcher in microbiology and nanotechnology and an expert in the circular economy and waste recovery; and Aboubakry Wade (Senegal), an agripreneur.
Women’s inclusion, offline applications and public-private partnerships
In his speech, Professor J. Nwakaire emphasised the need to intentionally include women right from the design phase of AI tools in order to avoid perpetuating inequalities. He explained that although women make up the majority of the agricultural workforce (60–70 %), they are under-represented among technology experts (only 30 %).
He shared his experiences of developing offline apps for rural areas without internet access, thereby ensuring accessibility for women. For example, apps that can detect crop diseases and send alerts via text message.
Mr Nwakaire also highlighted the need to collect gender-disaggregated data to ensure that women’s voices are heard, explaining that mixed approaches to data collection tend to marginalise women’s voices.
Finally, he called for stronger public-private partnerships to ensure that innovations meet the real needs of communities. In his view, AI must be designed with a clear focus on equity. He called for a reform of academic reward systems to prioritise community impact over publications.
Collaboration, real-time agricultural statistics and feedback mechanisms
In his speech, Daouda Seck emphasised the importance of collaboration between agri-tech start-ups, public institutions and producer organisations. He explained that public bodies, such as the Directorate of Horticulture and SONACOS in Senegal, need reliable agricultural statistics to make better decisions.
He shared his experiences of providing real-time agricultural statistics to public institutions and producers, thereby improving decision-making. For example, AI models fed with data collected in the field to provide statistics on crops such as onions and potatoes.
He has also worked with the Federation of Producers of the Anambé Basin (FEPROBA) to adapt farming practices to weather forecasts, thereby strengthening farmers’ resilience to climate change.
Mr Seck emphasised the need to train data collectors and adapt AI tools to local conditions, as data quality is crucial to the accuracy of the models. He also called for feedback mechanisms enabling users, particularly women, to report shortcomings and refine solutions, such as regular sessions to gather their feedback.
Waste conversion, digital platforms and co-creation
During her presentation, Mutiat Mohamed gave examples of how AI is being used to convert agricultural waste into value-added products, such as biofertilisers and biogas, thereby helping to empower women. For example, converting cassava peelings into biofertilisers or animal feed.
She also discussed the development of digital platforms to connect women producers with markets and real-time information, enabling them to compare prices and sell their products at better prices.
Effective production management is also crucial. She presented a digital platform for monitoring water quality in aquaculture ponds, thereby helping women to manage their production more effectively.
Ms Mohamed emphasised that AI should enhance, rather than replace, the local knowledge held by women. She called for AI tools to be co-created with women, through co-design workshops, to ensure their acceptability and relevance.
Digital identity, affordable smartphones and financial partnerships
For his part, Aboubakry Wade, an entrepreneur, spoke about his experience in developing a secure digital identity using biometrics. This application enables women to identify themselves using a biometrically validated digital ID card in order to access financial services.
Solutions such as smartphones designed for rural areas and pre-loaded with offline agricultural and financial apps were also discussed.
In short, the participants reiterated the need to involve women right from the design stage of AI technologies to avoid perpetuating inequalities, and emphasised the importance of partnerships between universities, the private sector, NGOs and communities.
They recommend feeding the AI with data that reflects local realities and the specific needs of women, and analysing training needs, particularly programmes aimed at empowering women to use AI tools.
Finally, they emphasised the importance of support policies and funding mechanisms for inclusive AI, as well as the need for ongoing advocacy for inclusive AI policies.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j5z36jd34Z0
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