From Cepei, we hope that, through this research, public-private data partnerships will improve their potential to respond to the global context.
This Case Study provides insights into the partnership between KaraAgro, a technological services company with expertise in Artificial Intelligence and Drones and the West Africa Centre for Crop Improvement (WACCI) in accelerating the development of new varieties of cowpea in a public-private data partnership.
KaraAgro used their expertise on data, drones and artificial intelligence, coupled with the plant breeding expertise from WACCI, to collect and analyze data from thousands of individual plants and rank the performance of these individuals against 10 phenotypic attributes.
Despite the risk averseness of the public sector, the WACCI leadership were progressive and willing to try new approaches, new partners and new technologies that enabled them to deliver on their mandate.
The result is a drastically reduced duration in development of a new cowpea variety that will make its way to smallholder farmers in Ghana in a fraction of the time.
KaraAgro used their expertise on data, drones and artificial intelligence, coupled with the plant breeding expertise from WACCI, to collect and analyze data from thousands of individual plants and rank the performance of these individuals against 10 phenotypic attributes.
Despite the risk averseness of the public sector, the WACCI leadership were progressive and willing to try new approaches, new partners and new technologies that enabled them to deliver on their mandate.
The result is a drastically reduced duration in development of a new cowpea variety that will make its way to smallholder farmers in Ghana in a fraction of the time.
