Chukwuka Ikevude

AI4NYP+ is an offline-first Edge-AI and SMS crop disease detection system that protects smallholder farmers in Enugu State from avoidable losses. The AI model is deployed on solar-powered Raspberry Pi devices with dual cameras, the system monitors pepper crops continuously, detecting seven disease classes using a YOLOv11n-based model and sending real-time SMS alerts in Igbo and English. Deployed across three communities (Eziani, Nguru, Agbani) and serving 120+ farmers, AI4NYP+ has produced measurable impact (17?25% yield improvements; 30% reduction in pesticide misuse). This scaling proposal expands the system geographically to Udenu, Isi-Uzo, and Nkanu East and functionally to tomato and maize, targeting 300+ additional farmers (420+ total). Planned activities include collecting 25,000+ labeled images, retraining optimized multicrop models for Raspberry Pi, upgrading the SMS advisory system to support two-way interaction and multilingual guidance, and intensive farmer onboarding. The project is offline, solar-powered, gender-sensitive, and designed for low-literacy farmers. Requested seed funding of USD 100,000 will cover data collection, hardware, SMS gateway operations, training, and M&E. AI4NYP+ advances responsible, inclusive, and sustainable AI by protecting livelihoods, reducing agrochemical misuse, and strengthening local capacity for resilient smallholder farming.