1. The programme in brief
AI Diffusion Pathways for Agriculture (AIDPA) is a six-month programme by the AI Hub for Sustainable Development (co-led by the Ministry of Enterprises and Made in Italy and the United Nations Development Programme), with DeepLeaf as delivery and platform partner.
The programme addresses a persistent challenge: agricultural knowledge exists in abundance, yet often fails to reach farmers when and where they need it.
Advances in AI and digital infrastructure offer new ways to bridge this gap. However, local agritech ventures often lack the capital, technical capacity and trusted local data needed to build reliable services. Without field partners and routes to customers, promising pilots struggle to become widely used products and viable businesses. As a result, farmers continue to make planting, treatment and input decisions without the timely expert advice these ventures could provide.
AIDPA helps ventures overcome these barriers and develop services that address real farming needs, are accessible to farmers and have viable business models. It treats AI as knowledge infrastructure: a shared capability that turns trusted agricultural research, locally relevant data and agronomic expertise into practical guidance. This approach connects models, technology and compute from G7 countries with validated local knowledge, enabling ventures to build services suited to their markets.
The programme will support seven agritech ventures - one each in Ghana, Italy, Kenya, Morocco, Rwanda, Tanzania and Tunisia - with shared infrastructure, technical and business support, and local partnerships. Each venture will adapt the shared AI platform to its crops, languages and communities, then test its service with real users.
Together, their experiences will show which capabilities, methods and partnerships can be reused and which require local adaptation. These lessons will contribute to the AI Hub’s ambition of 100 AI Diffusion Pathways by 2030.
2. The opportunity for ventures
From zero to one in six months: from technical build to adoption
Selected ventures receive support to develop an early-stage idea or grow an existing business. Shared AI infrastructure, validated local knowledge and local partnerships help teams build services tailored to their crops, languages and farming conditions, without developing their own underlying AI model.
01
Cohort workshops
Practical sessions with the full cohort, covering technology, product development and reaching customers.
02
Venture workshops
Sessions tailored to each venture’s technical, business and local market needs.
03
Technical assessments
Support from DeepLeaf to build, integrate and adapt the venture’s product.
04
Progress check-ups
Regular reviews of business and pilot progress to identify challenges and guide next steps.
05
Platform access
Free access to DeepLeaf’s harness, API and SDK until 31 July 2027, with a dedicated workspace and the venture’s own branding.
06
Adoption through pilots
Access to pilot sites, real users and customer introductions, supported by local partners and validated agricultural knowledge.
Intended outcomes
By the end of the programme, each venture is expected to have:
A working product and a completed pilot with real users.
A signed purchase or service contract with a customer or adopting institution.
A pitch prepared for the proposed Demo Day on 3 August 2027.
Intended outcomes
Ventures retain ownership of their products, customer relationships, interfaces, local operational data and business models, subject to applicable contracts and law. Portability is a programme principle, enabling ventures to continue developing their services beyond the cohort without being locked into a single provider.
3. Who can apply
Benki ya Maendeleo ya Afrika (AfDB), ikiwa ni mwanachama mwanzilishi wa Kikundi cha Uongozi cha AI Hub, pamoja na AI Hub kwa ajili ya Maendeleo Endelevu (inayoongozwa kwa ushirikiano na Wizara ya Biashara na Made in Italy na Shirika la Maendeleo la Umoja wa Mataifa), wanashirikiana na Google pamoja na Apolitical ili kuimarisha uwezo wa sekta ya umma katika matumizi ya akili mnemba (AI). Mpango huu unatoa mafunzo ya bure ya kiwango cha kimataifa yaliyoundwa mahususi kwa ajili ya watumishi wa sekta ya umma, ili kuziba pengo la ujuzi na kuimarisha ushirikiano kati ya sekta ya umma na binafsi katika miundombinu na uvumbuzi wa AI.
Mpango huu ni sehemu ya Apolitical Government AI Campus, kituo cha kimataifa kinachoaminika kwa ubora wa AI serikalini, ambacho kinalenga kuwaandaa watumishi wa umma milioni 1 kuongoza katika zama za AI kwa msaada kutoka Google.org na Rockefeller Foundation. Kampasi hii haiegemei teknolojia fulani pekee na inawasaidia viongozi, wataalamu, na wanafunzi wanaotaka kupata uelewa wa msingi ili kufahamu AI, kuitumia kwa uwajibikaji, na kuleta maboresho yenye tija katika utoaji wa huduma za umma.
