A research team led by a specialist in Agricultural Technology Transfer, Gender, and Rural Development, Dr. Olayinka Yusuf (@+234 806 710 5522 ) has won the Gender and Responsible Artificial Intelligence Network (GRAIN) "Improving inclusion and gender equality through Artificial Intelligence in sub-Saharan Africa" grant worth $15,108.

This project is among the nine (9) selected out of fifty proposals that the grant body received.

The project titled "Artificial Intelligence for Climate Smart Farming: A Path Towards Economic Empowerment of Women Farmers" has the overall goal of deploying AI driven solutions for climate smart farming as a pathway towards economic empowerment of women.

The Gender and Responsible Artificial Intelligence Network (GRAIN) is a research network on artificial intelligence for gender equality and inclusion that is facilitated by a consortium of strong and innovative research institutions including IPAR (Initiative Prospective Agricole et Rurale), CSEA (Centre d'Etude des Économies d'Afrique) and Sunbird AI, that is funded by the Artificial Intelligence for Development in Africa (IAPD Africa) program, funded by the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) and Sida.

In the research team alongside Dr. Olayinka Yusuf is Dr. Khadijat Olanrewaju of the Department of Agricultural Extension and Rural Development,Osun State University, Osogbo; Mrs. Martha Alade, a data analyst and Gender Responsive AI advocate who was part of the team that formulated the AI policy for Nigeria; Dr. Kazeem Dauda, who specializes in Machine Learning, Data Science and Artificial Intelligence, and affiliated with the Department of Mathematics and Statistics, Kwara State University; and Dr. Ronke Babatunde, a specialist in computer vision, pattern recognition, Machine Learning, and AI of the Department of Computer Science Kwara State University.

The others are Mrs. Kemi Afolabi-Yusuf of the Department of Mathematics and Computer Science, Summit University, Offa; Dr. Latifat Olatinwo, a specialist in Agricultural Extension, Gender, and Youth studies of the Department of Agricultural Economics and Extension Services, Kwara State University; Dr. Ololade Abdulrahman of the Department of Agricultural Economics and Extension Services, Kwara State University; and Dr. Abdulrahman Ibrahim, a bilingual specialist in Applied Linguistics, Sociolinguistics and International Relations with the Department of Arabic and French, KWASU.

The Acting Vice-Chancellor of Kwara State University, Malete, Professor Shaykh-Luqman Jimoh, in his reaction to the announcement, described the grant winning success as a boost not only to the University, but to the emerging body of resources about how artificial intelligence can be deployed to aid women farmers in Nigeria.

He noted that with growing concerns over food security, significant attention must be paid to securing access to nutritious food in adequate quantities.

Professor Jimoh added that the added emphasis on women farmers targeted a demograph of Nigeria's population, which should be supported and encouraged to enhance access to food by vulnerable people in the country.

He commended the team, urging more collaborative ventures that would bring accolade and positive attention to Kwara State University.