By Sorie Ibrahim Fofanah
As a way to use technology to transform the agricultural sector in Sierra Leone, the Chief Minister, Dr. David Moinina Sengeh has said they are ‘digitalizing’ farmers.
Dr.Sengeh was speaking in a panel discussion on Artificial Intelligence (AI) for the World with the theme: Advancing Inclusive and Equitable Use of Artificial Intelligence held in Dakar, Senegal on 10th October this year.
He said digitalizing farmers would enable the Government identify the farmers, know their locations and give them the crops and fertilizers needed.
He said with ‘very low cost’ technology, they would record frequently asked questions by farmers and provide answers to them, and would also provide advisory on issues they face. He noted that farmers would be able to ask questions in their local languages relating to how to use fertilizers and seeds.
We want to build a technology that would enable people to feed themselves, people able to access ‘quality’ education, people able to access jobs, Dr. Sengeh stated.
Addressing his fellow panelists, on the solutions to make public examination results available to school pupils in Sierra Leone, Dr.Sengeh said they have built a technology (result checker) that makes it available to ‘everybody’ using SMS, saying it was difficult for parents to access their children’s public examination results before, as they had to raise up money for the charges and wait for like ten weeks, during which a lot of teenage pregnancy occurred.
Dr. Sengeh said 2G, 1G, SMS are accessible to 90 per cent of the country, and that everybody is able to access technology, irrespective of where the individual is. ’’So technology is an equalizer,’’ he noted, saying people in Sierra Leone are now able to make decisions in ‘real time.’
On using technology in safe ways, he said they have to work with governments to have digital sound boxes, AI sound boxes, regulatory sound boxes that would not affect people, he noted.
Copyright © 2023 Politico (16/10/23)
