The project Deep Farm, funded by the ERASMUS from the European Union, is designed to enhance the skills of students and teachers in digital agriculture, through the use of’Artificial Intelligence (AI), from Big Data and the’Internet of Things (IoT).
DEEP FARM is a consortium of twelve (12) academic institutions (See Table 1 below) where four (4) European universities (2 in France, 1 in Italy, and 1 in Turkey) support eight (8) universities in four (4) third countries (Madagascar, Côte d'Ivoire, Haiti, and the Dominican Republic) to address the existing skills gap. This consortium works to strengthen the knowledge and capabilities of agronomy students with new AI and Big Data tools to face the challenges of modern/green agriculture.
Pilot projects include Deep Cacao, in Côte d'Ivoire by the’ESATIC and the’INPHB.
In this project, ESATIC is implementing an AI model based on neural networks to detect and prevent SWOLLEN SHOOT disease (analyzed by INPHB), one of the biggest threats to cocoa cultivation in Côte d'Ivoire. We present a table of the consortium's contributions.
Table of sites in the Deep Farm project
Country
Establishments
Contributions
France
(02 institutions)
ECOLE SUPERIEURE DES TECHNOLOGIES INDUSTRIELLES AVANCEES (ESTIA),
Project coordinator and communications manager
AGENCY FOR TRAINING AND RESEARCH IN IA (AFRIA)
Italy
UNIVERSITA DEGLI STUDI DI SIENA (UNISI)
Capacity building for RN teachers
Turkey
YASAR UNIVERSITESI (YASARU)
Deep Olive Project
Madagascar
(02 institutions)
IT UNIVERSITY (ITU)
Deep Rice project
UNIVERSITY OF ANTANANARIVO (UNIVA)
Ivory Coast
(02 institutions)
ECOLE SUPERIEURE AFRICAINE DES TIC (ESATIC)
Deep Cocoa project
INSTITUT NATIONAL POLYTECHNIQUE FELIX HOUPHOUET-BOIGNY (INPHB)
Haiti
(02 institutions)
State University of Haiti (UEH)
Deep Mango Project
Higher School of Infotronics of Haiti SA (ESIH)
Dominican Republic
(02 institutions)
UNIVERSIDAD TECNOLOGICA DE SANTIAGO (UTESA)
Deep Banana project
UNIVERSIDAD ISA INC ASOCIACION SINFINES DE LUCRO (ISA)
The Deep Farm / Deep Cacao project is drawing to a close with a positive overall assessment: all the major objectives have been achieved.
The results - skills, digital tools, databases and a mobile application - are a lasting legacy for ESATIC, INPHB and all our partners.
This project marks a decisive step in the digital transition of Ivorian agriculture, and opens up promising prospects for the future of research, innovation and sustainable agricultural development in Africa.
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