Following the impact of Cyclone Freddy in 2023, a non-profit organization called Opportunity International ran a pilot project in the Ndodo village in Malawi that used an app called “Ulangizi“. True to its translation of “advice” in the local Chichewa language, the app helps local farmers by providing answers to questions about crop and farm animal diseases, using data gathered from ChatGPT and the Malawian government’s agricultural manual.
Benefitting the farmers
The pilot project was conducted with over 150 Opportunity farmer support agents (FSAs) and government agents between February and April 2024. Thomas Beattie, Donor Acquisition and Innovation Manager for Opportunity International, told TechAcute that, “Ulangizi helped the FSAs to quickly and accurately respond to questions from farmers, thus providing the agents with more confidence and increasing their respect amongst the farmers they serve.”
Further, he notes the app’s longevity beyond the pilot, with “around one-third of the agents who were trained to use Ulangizi became regular users”. He added that each member of their FSA network reaches 150 farmers, bringing the total to over 6,000 Malawian farmers who continued to receive advice from Ulangizi after the pilot closed.
AI for agricultural needs
The organization developed Ulangizi with expert developers from AIS, a tech firm in Reston, Virginia. Followed by integration with an OpenAI platform called Gooey.ai. The main aim of the app is to help FSAs deliver accurate, timely answers to agricultural questions facing their smallholder farmer clients.
When asked how the app works, Beattie shared that the solution is available on smartphones and is a chatbot that interfaces with generative AI. This is accessed via the familiar WhatsApp interface, which is already widely used by the organization’s FSA network. Also, to improve accessibility, Ulangizi can “respond to questions from text or voice in English or Chichewa and can interpret photos to diagnose disease.”
Challenges faced
The pilot project did face some challenges. While the text interface worked well, the voice capabilities in the Ulangizi app still need some improvements. According to Beattie, 65% of suggestions for improvement are related to voice engagement. He also shared that “users also expressed interest in receiving more direct responses…including photos or videos to increase the accessibility of the information provided. These features are being reviewed to improve their usefulness before Ulangizi is rolled out more widely.”
Despite the challenges, the project had a positive effect overall. Thanks to Ulangizi’s success, the app not only helped local farmers in Malawi during this critical time but also helped them. It also led to expansion in Malawi and several other countries, including Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, and Ghana.
YouTube: Microsoft Spotlight: Opportunity International’s Ulangizi Helping Farmers in Malawi Exit Poverty
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Photo credit: The images used were taken by Kondwani Jere and Ama Akuamoah for Opportunity International and have been provided for press usage.
