Ahmadu Bello University Students Win N2m Prize for AI-Based Crop Disease Detector
Their innovative project, an AI-based crop disease detector called ‘CropDiseaseDetector’, is designed to help farmers in northern Nigeria detect crop diseases early.
Binye-lum 
Six students from Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaria, have secured the second position at the FCMB Agrictech Hackathon 2024, earning a prize of N2 million. Their innovative project, an AI-based crop disease detector called ‘CropDiseaseDetector’, is designed to help farmers in northern Nigeria detect crop diseases early.
The AI-driven system operates offline, making it suitable for remote areas, and provides real-time detection and recommendations for addressing crop diseases. The system can also be expanded to cater to other crops and regional disease variations.
The award ceremony took place at the FCMB Head Office in Lagos, with Sufiyanu Ibrahim from the Department of Computer Engineering receiving the prize on behalf of the team. Other members of the team, named ‘AgroGuardians’, include Hadiza Mohammed (Computer Science), Salim Babangida (Water Resources and Environmental Engineering), Lawal Uzairu (Electrical Engineering), Abubakar Taufik (Agriculture), and Abdulfattah Omisanya (Agricultural and Bio-resources Engineering).
The FCMB Agrictech Hackathon, which focuses on advancing agricultural research and technology, received over 1,400 submissions from over 20 countries.
