Online Reporter
Michelle Musandinyoze, [email protected]
A group of former students from local universities have partnered to launch The Farmer’s Bench, an artificial intelligence powered multilingual (AI) model designed to help farmers access real time solutions and improve their participation in the digital economy.
The two groups — Hurudza AI and Paltech Africa — said the new system is tailored to provide farmers with critical information such as weather data, soil analytics, market trends and crop health insights in indigenous languages, addressing a long-standing gap where information is predominantly available only in English.
“The good thing about the system is that it allows farmers to converse with Al using their own language, especially the elderly in rural areas who usually struggle with language barriers. We understand that innovation is important and we are moving away from isolated technology development and providing viability of collaborative localised Al infrastructure tailored for the African market.
“The goal is to establish a local, physical presence designed to provide farmers and communities with real-time, actionable, and data-driven farming solutions,” said Leonard Muyambo, team leader for Paltech Africa.
The young innovators said Paltech Africa will act as the core hardware service provider, supplying smart infrastructure and leading the technical integration of the Hurudza AI application programming interface (API) into edge-based systems.
“Hurudza AI is also responsible for computing hardware and site selection, hosting, and ongoing physical maintenance of the deployed smart infrastructure. Hurudza AI will serve as the core software provider, granting reliable access to the system ensuring that the conversational with AI remains updated, providing accurate, multilingual data and solutions to end-users,” said Mr Muyambo.
The partners expressed optimism that the collaboration represents a significant step towards democratising AI, sustainable energy solutions, agricultural knowledge and digital inclusion through smart, solar powered infrastructure.
“We are creating a tool the Farmers’ Bench that can truly revolutionise how farmers access information directly at the edge,” said Mr Muyambo.
Hurudza AI co-founder and chief executive officer Mr Frank Makeba said The Farmer’s Bench demonstrated the potential of integrating smart infrastructure with specialised AI solutions.
“The ‘Farmers’ Bench’ is a testament to the power of combining smart infrastructure with specialised AI. The partnership between Hurudza AI and Paltech Africa is strategic for both companies and it also increases investor confidence in both startups which are strong in building Hardware and Software Solutions.
“AI solutions should not be built in silos, especially in Africa if we want to get our market share. The partnership demonstrates the power of building localised infrastructure and collaboration,” he said.
