Kingsley Jasi didn't wait for an extension officer. He sent a photo instead.
Chiradzulu, Malawi · Kingsley Jasi, Alifosina Mtseteka
With roughly one agricultural extension officer for every 3,000 farmers in Malawi, a WhatsApp chatbot in Chichewa answered the question no one was coming to answer.
The story
The person and the place
Kingsley Jasi grows corn and beans on a two-acre farm in Chiradzulu, Malawi.
The problem
Worms were eating his corn. He reached for his usual insecticide and it made things worse. Malawi has roughly one agricultural extension officer for every 3,000 farmers, according to the Ministry of Agriculture, so expert help wasn't coming anytime soon.
The moment they didn't wait
Instead of guessing again, Jasi photographed the damaged crop and sent it over WhatsApp to Ulangizi, a chatbot that answers farming questions in Chichewa. The tool was built by the nonprofit Opportunity International on government guidelines and traditional know-how.
Ulangizi recommended a different insecticide, and it worked. "After following its recommendation, the worms were completely eliminated," Jasi said. "Since then, I have relied solely on the chatbot's guidance." The tool is honest about where it falls short, too: reporting on Ulangizi found it "can sometimes generate false answers and get confused by new questions," and it isn't always right. That kind of candor is rare in a farming tool, and it's part of why Jasi trusts what it gets right.
"After following its recommendation, the worms were completely eliminated."
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