
-
Australian Grand Prix: What we learned
-
Data shows patchy Chinese economy in first two months of the year
-
Starmer, Macron work 'hand in glove' amid revived UK-French ties
-
'Dark oxygen': a deep-sea discovery that has split scientists
-
Peru farmer in German court battle with energy giant
-
Race to name creatures of the deep as mining interest grows
-
Yemen's Huthis claim attacks on carrier group after US strikes
-
Asian markets start week on front foot as China unveils consumer plan
-
Japan cult widow speaks 30 years after subway attack
-
Wind-powered mast to cut emissions sets sail to Canada
-
Giant mine machine swallowing up Senegal's fertile coast
-
UK energy minister in Beijing to press China on emissions
-
Trump admin begins mass layoffs at Voice of America
-
Ovechkin set to achieve the 'impossible'
-
Colombia's 'Lord of the Fruit' fighting for native species
-
Why are proposed deep-sea mining rules so contentious?
-
Trump begins mass layoffs at Voice of America
-
Stranded US astronauts to return to Earth on Tuesday: NASA
-
McIlroy and Spaun battle into Monday playoff at storm-hit Players
-
'I like it' - Russian teen Andreeva relishes quick rise in WTA's ranks
-
Quantum Kinetics' Safe Nuclear Fusion Sustains Plasma Temperatures for 86,400 Seconds - 24hrs
-
Newcastle revel in 'strange smell' of success after League Cup glory
-
Bullish Martinez eyeing treble for Inter after statement win at Atalanta
-
Draper powers past Rune to win Indian Wells ATP Masters
-
Belgian actress Emilie Dequenne dead at 43: family, agent
-
Colombia warns Trump against drug blacklisting
-
PSG beat Marseille as Montpellier game abandoned due to crowd trouble
-
Barca mount late comeback to stun Atletico in thriller
-
Inter on course to retain Serie A title with win at Atalanta
-
Amorim welcomes break despite Man Utd upturn
-
'Magic moment' to inspire Bayern chase, says Leverkusen boss Alonso
-
McIlroy leads as final round resumes at storm-hit Players
-
Arsenal edge out Chelsea, Man Utd beat Leicester
-
Schick late show caps Leverkusen fightback to close gap on Bayern
-
Israel's Netanyahu seeks to fire internal security agency chief
-
Andreeva, 17, tops world No. 1 Sabalenka for Indian Wells title
-
Defiant Slot focuses on Liverpool Premier League push after League Cup woe
-
'I feel like I'm dreaming', says Newcastle's League Cup hero Burn
-
Cavs win streak halted after Magic comeback
-
Quick Mofokeng brace helps Pirates sink leaders Sundowns
-
Marquez show rolls on with Marc beating Alex in Argentina
-
Howe joy as Newcastle end 'years of hurt'
-
Pope seen celebrating mass in first photo since hospitalisation
-
Montpellier Ligue 1 clash abandoned after crowd trouble
-
Freeman says England rising star Pollock knew he'd score a Six Nations debut try against Wales
-
Napoli miss out on Serie A summit, troubled Juve hammered by Fiorentina
-
Cuba gradually turning lights back on after island-wide blackout
-
Frankfurt beat Bochum and 50-minute delay to boost Champions League bid
-
Iran-backed Yemen rebels say attacked US carrier after air strikes
-
Newcastle stun Liverpool in League Cup final to end 56-year trophy drought

In Nigeria, tech workers and farmers bring AI to the fields
With a few taps on his phone, Dandam Nangor knows exactly what temperature his greenhouse is at, when to water his crops and even the pH of the soil.
Backed by artificial intelligence, it's all designed to make growing his peppers easier -- and perhaps usher in a sort of agriculture 2.0 in Nigeria, where millions work in the sector, from subsistence farmers to, increasingly, young tech workers.
With probes in the soil collecting data, processed by local agri-tech local company Green Eden and sent to his phone, "my production has increased (by) about 400 kilograms," or 20 percent, 34-year-old Nangor, who is also an IT analyst, told AFP during a visit to his greenhouse in Jos.
Farms around the Plateau state capital, sitting at 1,200 metres (4,000 feet) above sea level and known for its mild climate, have long fed the nation, with their fruits and vegetables ending up in markets across Nigeria.
But they haven't been spared from climate change, as increasingly erratic rainfall threatens farmers across west Africa, the majority of whom are smallholders who operate without irrigation.
The stakes are high for the whole country: some 20 percent of Nigeria's GDP comes from agriculture.
"That was the simple problem, the weather. Climate change," said Stephanie Meltus, founder of Green Eden, whose tech has been deployed on more than 70 farms.
"That's what we are trying to solve."
The start-up first found financing from friends and family, before more business and foundations started getting involved -- providing an opportunity to "bridge the gap" between Nigeria's bustling tech scene and its rural hinterlands, said Meltus, a 21-year-old pharmacy student.
- Field to henhouse -
The central city of Jos itself is becoming something of an agri-tech hub.
Mercy Atsuku, who raises chickens, told AFP that after adopting a monitoring system from another local start-up, "we barely even record any mortality cases".
The tech, from Anatsor, keeps tabs on temperature, humidity and air and water quality on poultry farms.
Due to climate change, "the weather pattern is uncertain", Anatsor's 24-year-old founder Miriam Agbo said.
"When the temperature is too high, the chickens don't eat," she told AFP.
When its too humid, "the environment becomes damp, they tend to stay together to heat up. And that results in suffocating".
Now, minute shifts in conditions are now sent directly to Atsuku's phone.
"Let's say when the water is contaminated, it's no longer too good for the chickens. I get a notification," she said. "I no longer wake up in the middle of the night just to check on the chickens."
Though the $150 she paid for the system -- three times the monthly minimum wage -- might be out of reach for some, "it has reduced a lot of stress for me".
The new tech is coming online at a key time, said Nuhu Adamu Gworgwor, an agronomy professor at the University of Jos, as climate change and urbanisation drive more and more Nigerians away from agriculture and into cities.
Poor harvests from drought and erratic rains have "driven away people from their fields" -- and many are unlikely to return.
"They could not be able to go to agriculture again," he told AFP.
- Eyes in the sky -
Critics of the broader agri-tech sector worry that innovation is being directed at increasing output, rather than at mitigating farming's own negative effects on the environment.
And artificial intelligence will do little to help growers bogged down by land degradation, a lack of access to financing and poor infrastructure.
Only 40 percent of people in Nigeria have an internet connection -- a rate that plunges in rural areas.
But Gambo Wadams Zakka, an English literature student, still has dreams of putting tech in the fields, as he pursues a start-up that would combine satellite imagery and AI to warn farmers of pest infestations, delivered via text message.
He also wants to monitor market prices, to give farmers more information about when to sell their crops.
"We could give them an SMS alert, like prices of heavy beans is selling at 15,000 naira ($10) per bag... but prices are expected to rise by next week," Zakka said.
For Michael Inyam Itsegok, who has grown potatoes, bananas and cucumbers for 25 years, it's the "perfect" technology, which would help take some of the chance and guesswork out of farming.
"If you don't have an insight of what is coming," he said, "you are left at the mercy of that very thing that has come."
G.Stevens--AMWN