Catherine Nakalembe, GEOG assistant professor, has recently published an open-access paper about the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in agriculture in Sub-Saharan Africa in Environmental Research Letters. Here is an excerpt from an interview with IOP Publishing about her work:
This interview is part of a series featuring researchers who have published their work open access through a transformative agreement with IOP Publishing, and part of our celebration of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy’s Year of Open Science. Transformative agreements enable researchers to publish their work openly for anyone to read at no cost to them because the costs of publishing are paid directly by their university, in this case the University of Maryland.
IOP Publishing: Can you tell us about your latest findings and how your work will help address the climate crisis?
The work on AI and Earth Observations (AI-EO) for agriculture in Sub-Saharan Africa has the potential to help address the climate crisis in several ways. By providing accurate and timely information on crop yields, crop type, and land use, AI-EO technology can support the design and adoption of climate-smart agricultural practices that can help mitigate climate change. For example, AI-EO can help farmers identify areas at risk of drought or other extreme weather events and take proactive measures to protect their crop.
Image: Catherine Nakalembe. Courtesy of Nakalembe.