Grow Further today announced a new Phase II grant to expand a breakthrough agricultural technology project in Tanzania, aimed at helping smallholder farmers combat devastating crop pests and diseases.
The grant supports continued development and scaling of kilimoAI, an artificial intelligence-powered smartphone app created by researchers at the Nelson Mandela African Institution of Science and Technology and Tanzania Agricultural Research Institute, and led by Dr. Neema Mduma. The app enables farmers to detect early signs of disease and pest infestation in staple crops like maize and common beans, providing real-time diagnosis and actionable guidance to protect yields.
Building on Proven Success
Following a highly successful Phase I, KilimoAI has already gained strong adoption among farmers near Arusha. By simply taking photos of affected crops, farmers can receive rapid analysis powered by machine learning trained on tens of thousands of crop images.
“We are happy to receive a Phase 2 grant from Grow Further to scale kilimoAI,” said Dr. Mduma. “This support will help us expand deployment across more regions in Tanzania and reach more smallholder farmers with timely crop disease detection.”
Expanding Impact Where It Matters Most
Smallholder farming underpins approximately 65% of employment in Tanzania and plays a critical role in national food security. However, increasing climate pressures are intensifying the spread and severity of crop diseases.
Phase II of the project will expand kilimoAI’s capabilities beyond its initial focus on four major diseases to include additional threats identified directly by farmers, such as leaf spots, blights, and angular leaf spot. The project will also extend its reach into new agricultural regions, ensuring more farmers can benefit.
Farmer-Driven Innovation
A cornerstone of Grow Further’s funding model is farmer inclusion in research and development. From the outset, smallholder farmers have played a central role in shaping kilimoAI, contributing images, testing functionality, and guiding feature development.
“By involving farmers directly, this project ensures that innovation is practical, relevant, and scalable,” said Grow Further Founder and CEO Peter Kelly. “This is exactly the kind of high-impact, farmer-centered solution we are proud to support.”
A Vision Beyond Borders
While the project is currently focused in Tanzania, the data behind its model are available to researchers anywhere and the research team hopes to see it used throughout East Africa and beyond.
About Grow Further
Grow Further is a nonprofit organization dedicated to advancing global food security by funding farmer-informed agricultural innovation. Grow Further believes that farmers in the Global South should have access to modern, high-performing seeds and technology to boost their harvests, incomes, and nutrition.
The organization identifies and champions promising agricultural research led by experts who deeply understand the challenges of farming in low- and middle-income countries. Grow Further provides critical funding, forges strategic partnerships, and ensures farmers have a seat at the table throughout the research and development process. This approach helps ensure breakthrough innovations directly address farmers’ needs, increasing yields, boosting farmer incomes, and strengthening global food security at scale.
