{"id":8423,"date":"2023-08-10T12:17:53","date_gmt":"2023-08-10T09:17:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conas.sua.ac.tz\/informatics\/?p=8423"},"modified":"2023-08-10T12:55:50","modified_gmt":"2023-08-10T09:55:50","slug":"ms-theofrida-maginga-wins-a-prestigious-global-grand-challenge-funded-by-bill-and-melinda-gates-foundation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conas.sua.ac.tz\/informatics\/ms-theofrida-maginga-wins-a-prestigious-global-grand-challenge-funded-by-bill-and-melinda-gates-foundation","title":{"rendered":"Ms. Theofrida Maginga wins a prestigious Global Grand Challenge Funded by Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.conas.sua.ac.tz\/informatics\/theofrida-maginga\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Ms. Theofrida Maginga<\/a>, who is a member of staff in our Department (DIIT) at Sokoine University of Agriculture has successfully secured prestigious funding through the Global Grand Challenge initiative.<\/p>\n<p>Ms. Maginga&#8217;s research project titled &#8220;Integrated AI, Internet of Things (IoT), and a Swahili Chatbot: Agricultural Technology Solution for Early Detection of Maize Diseases&#8221;, will be supported by the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gatesfoundation.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation<\/a> as part of the Catalyzing Equitable Artificial Intelligence (AI) Use program.<\/p>\n<p>The research objective, which involves creating a Swahili chatbot powered by ChatGPT, will serve smallholder farmers in Tanzania, particularly those with limited literacy and few resources. The primary focus is on quickly and easily identifying crop diseases, specifically those affecting maize. Maize is a critical crop in Tanzania, contributing up to 50% of rural cash income. Given that certain diseases impacting maize are challenging to detect visually, there have been significant losses in crop yield and income. To address this, Ms. Maginga and her team intends to merge artificial intelligence with Internet of Things (IoT) technologies that employ non-intrusive sensors. These sensors will monitor early disease indicators that are not visible, such as volatile organic compounds, ultrasound movements, and soil nutrient absorption. Additionally, she will design and integrate a Swahili chatbot to engage with farmers in their local language, demonstrating cultural sensitivity. The chatbot will aid in model validation and real-world testing.<\/p>\n<p>For more information, you can visit the project page: <a href=\"https:\/\/gcgh.grandchallenges.org\/grant\/integrated-ai-internet-things-iot-and-swahili-chatbot-agri-tech-solution-early-disease\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Link<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Further details about the Catalyzing Equitable Artificial Intelligence (AI) Use challenge can be found here: <a href=\"https:\/\/gcgh.grandchallenges.org\/challenge\/catalyzing-equitable-artificial-intelligence-ai-use\">Link<\/a><\/p>\n<p>To access a slideshow presentation, you can go to: <a href=\"https:\/\/gcgh.grandchallenges.org\/gallery\/catalyzing-equitable-artificial-intelligence-ai-use-challenge-highlights\">Link<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Ms. Theofrida Maginga, who is a member of staff in our Department (DIIT) at Sokoine University of Agriculture has successfully secured prestigious funding through the Global Grand Challenge initiative. Ms. Maginga&#8217;s research project titled &#8220;Integrated AI, Internet of Things (IoT), and a Swahili Chatbot: Agricultural Technology Solution for Early Detection of Maize Diseases&#8221;, will be [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":7775,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[13],"class_list":["post-8423","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-projects"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v18.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Ms. Theofrida Maginga wins a prestigious Global Grand Challenge Funded by Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation - Department of Informatics and Information Technology | Sokoine University of Agriculture<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.conas.sua.ac.tz\/informatics\/ms-theofrida-maginga-wins-a-prestigious-global-grand-challenge-funded-by-bill-and-melinda-gates-foundation\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Ms. Theofrida Maginga wins a prestigious Global Grand Challenge Funded by Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation - Department of Informatics and Information Technology | Sokoine University of Agriculture\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Ms. Theofrida Maginga, who is a member of staff in our Department (DIIT) at Sokoine University of Agriculture has successfully secured prestigious funding through the Global Grand Challenge initiative. Ms. Maginga&#8217;s research project titled &#8220;Integrated AI, Internet of Things (IoT), and a Swahili Chatbot: Agricultural Technology Solution for Early Detection of Maize Diseases&#8221;, will be [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.conas.sua.ac.tz\/informatics\/ms-theofrida-maginga-wins-a-prestigious-global-grand-challenge-funded-by-bill-and-melinda-gates-foundation\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Department of Informatics and Information Technology | Sokoine University of Agriculture\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-08-10T09:17:53+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-08-10T09:55:50+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.conas.sua.ac.tz\/informatics\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/theofrida-768x1024.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"768\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1024\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Joseph Telemala\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.conas.sua.ac.tz\/informatics\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.conas.sua.ac.tz\/informatics\/\",\"name\":\"Department of Informatics and Information Technology | Sokoine University of Agriculture\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.conas.sua.ac.tz\/informatics\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.conas.sua.ac.tz\/informatics\/ms-theofrida-maginga-wins-a-prestigious-global-grand-challenge-funded-by-bill-and-melinda-gates-foundation#primaryimage\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.conas.sua.ac.tz\/informatics\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/theofrida.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.conas.sua.ac.tz\/informatics\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/theofrida.png\",\"width\":3024,\"height\":4032},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.conas.sua.ac.tz\/informatics\/ms-theofrida-maginga-wins-a-prestigious-global-grand-challenge-funded-by-bill-and-melinda-gates-foundation#webpage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.conas.sua.ac.tz\/informatics\/ms-theofrida-maginga-wins-a-prestigious-global-grand-challenge-funded-by-bill-and-melinda-gates-foundation\",\"name\":\"Ms. Theofrida Maginga wins a prestigious Global Grand Challenge Funded by Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation - 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