Rwanda’s Minister of Information Technology: Abu Dhabi’s agricultural artificial intelligence system enhances international cooperation

Abu Dhabi, 9 December / WAM / Her Excellency Paula Ingabire, Minister of Information Technology, Communications and Innovation of the Republic of Rwanda, confirmed that the launch of the artificial intelligence system for the global agricultural sector in Abu Dhabi reflects the importance of cross-border and cross-disciplinary cooperation, noting that the climate challenges faced by farmers in Rwanda, as a result of rainfall fluctuations, intersect with the challenges of the region’s farmers related to heat stress and water scarcity, which confirms the unity of the need for accurate information, flexible practices and effective support in a timely manner.

This came during her speech at the launch event of the system, which was held yesterday at the St. Regis Hotel on Saadiyat Island. It is an innovative platform based on a cooperation network that includes the Office of International Affairs in the Presidential Office, the Mohammed bin Zayed University for Artificial Intelligence, New York University Abu Dhabi, and the “AI71” company, in addition to a number of major international partners, including the Gates Foundation, the Consultative Group for International Agricultural Research (CGIAR), and the World Bank.

Ingabire stressed her country’s commitment to employing artificial intelligence as an essential tool to accelerate the modernization of the agricultural sector and achieve a shift towards market-oriented and environmentally friendly agricultural systems, noting that Rwanda has made important strides in creating the necessary environment for the application of these technologies on a large scale.

She said that Rwanda has worked over the past years to unify agricultural lands, expand irrigation networks, and build terraces, and enhance research, extension, and investment in post-harvest management and agricultural industrialization, which contributed to creating an organized, data-rich environment that enables artificial intelligence systems to work effectively and on a large scale.

She added that the “young farmer” in Rwanda has become able to interact with agricultural extension tools supported by artificial intelligence in his local language, “Kinyarwanda”, to obtain customized guidance on planting dates, appropriate inputs, and mechanisms for benefiting from government support programmes, stressing that these applications are actually being implemented within pilot projects with farmers who previously relied on irregular extension visits or on exchanging information orally.

Ingabire stressed that Rwanda has also invested in building an enabling system that allows artificial intelligence to move from promising ideas and projects to achieving a tangible impact on the ground, through the establishment of the “Center for the Fourth Industrial Revolution” within the World Economic Forum network, explaining that the UAE hosts a similar center within the same network.

She said that the center allows testing and scaling up responsible artificial intelligence solutions, including the “Artificial Intelligence Expansion Center” supported by the Gates Foundation, in addition to working on building data governance frameworks, creating regulatory testing environments, and developing skills, bringing together policy makers, researchers, and farmers in a participatory path of joint innovation.

She added that Rwanda is also working to establish a specialized platform under the name “Food Innovation Center”, with the aim of consolidating its position as a center for innovation in food systems by 2035, allowing the rapid alignment of policies, regulations and investments when any solution succeeds, and its expansion at the national level.

She pointed out that the fourth pillar in this transformation is the “public digital infrastructure,” as Rwanda adopts digital identity systems, mobile payment, and e-government platforms, with the ability to register farmers on a large scale, explaining that adding artificial intelligence to these systems allows the implementation of precisely targeted support programs, the provision of advanced agricultural guidance, and the monitoring of results almost instantly, even in remote agricultural areas.

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