Ghana Tech Company Wins Victory at Fall Armyworm Technology Award

News of the Sunday, November 25, 2018

Source: Myjoyonline.com

2018-11-25

A Ghanaian technology company, registered in Ghana, was a big hit at the fall 2018 Fall Army Legionary Feed the Future technical award in Cape Town last Wednesday.

Henson Geodata Technology, a geographical information systems company based in Accra, finished second out of 20 finalists across the continent. Award judges based their decision on companies that use digital tools to provide "context-specific information that enables smallholders and their supporters to identify, treat and track the impact of legionnaires." fall in Africa ".

According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, agricultural fever is a serious threat to food security in sub-Saharan Africa.

"FAW outbreaks first occurred in West Africa in early 2016 and are now on the brink of devastating food supplies across the continent, exacerbating global poverty and hunger," he said. reads in a last statement. "The FAW is attacking more than 80 different plant species and agriculture experts estimate that the pest could cause more than $ 13 billion in losses for crops such as maize, sorghum, rice and sugar cane."

The use of technology to suppress crop damage has led to the creation of this award. Judges used a six-step test to determine winners: digital tools, exploitable information, accessibility, potential impact, market potential, and compliance with regulations, confidentiality and standards.

The big winner is Farm.Ink, a Kenyan-based company that uses natural language processing algorithms to badyze social farming data. Farm.Ink won $ 150,000. Henson Geodata Technology won $ 50,000.

Read the press release below:

HENSON GEODATA TECHNOLOGIES WINS THE BORDER INNOVATION PRIZE AT THE FINAL AUTUMN FALL ARMY TECHNOLOGY AWARD AT FALL IN CAPE TOWN, SOUTH AFRICA, ON NOVEMBER 14, 2018.

Henson Geodata Technologies Ltd. (HGT) (www.hensongeodata.com), a Ghanaian company registered in the field of geographic information technology, received the second prize on 20 finalists at the Grand Final of the legendary Autumn Legion Fall (https : // fallarmywormtech .challenges.org / winners /) held in Cape Town on 14 November 2018 in South Africa. It is a highly contested competition for digital tools and approaches that provide timely and context-specific information for smallholders and their supporters to identify, process and track impact. of the Fall Army Legionnaire (FAW) in Africa.

The prize was awarded to IGEZA (www.igeza.africa) for the detection of crop and pest diseases caused by AI, GIS and IVR, instant notification, mapping, real-time pesticide recommendation and a knowledge base system with mobile and web platforms for smallholders. farmers in Africa.

IGEZA allows smallholders and extension agents to search for pests such as the Fall armyworm (FAW) and instantly access recommended pesticides, map their farms, find out more on the detection and management of these agents, alert the community of experts and decision makers and communicate with them in their language. Extension workers and other experts are also able to monitor and access data on pest and disease infestations on all farms through the cloud-based Igeza control center.

"We had a great interaction with our pilot community that started in June," said Dr. Kofi Henaku. "We thank farmers and agricultural extension workers for their constructive comments to improve Igeza. Special thanks to Kojo Ahiakpa (Research Desk Consulting Ltd: www.rdcgh.org) for his leadership, to Mr. Michael Osae (Deputy Director of BNARI, Ghana Atomic Energy Commission) and his team for his technical leadership. & # 39; Osae said: "Igeza is simply intended to improve the quality of services provided to our farmers."

Henson Geodata Technologies has studied and developed a number of location-based technologies, such as a base map of Africa, a spatial data infrastructure for Africa, an ERP solution to gain in commercial efficiency, a mobile banking solution and an insurance claims notification service.