DeepLeaf went to Nigeria to scale its operations. Building genuine opportunity in agriculture requires direct, sustained engagement with the people who work the land. This principle guided DeepLeaf's week in Lagos with the UNDP AI Hub for Sustainable Development, held alongside Deep Learning Indaba 2026.
Nigeria is home to more than 45 million farmers, making it one of the most instructive markets in the world for anyone building agricultural AI at scale. Over seven days, El Mahdi Aboulmanadel and Davide Menguzzato met with the institutions and organizations shaping the sector on the ground: Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security; H.E. Roberto Mengoni, Ambassador of Italy to Nigeria; the Eko Farmers APPEALS Cooperative Society; All Farmers Association Of Nigeria AFAN; Bola Oyeleke of TOPAN the Tomatoes and Orchard Producers Association of Nigeria ; Dolapo Olusanmokun of Mercy Corps AgriFin; and several others.
During the same week, DeepLeaf convened AI Diffusion Pathways for Agriculture, a dinner near Pan-Atlantic University that brought together more than 30 stakeholders from across the value chain: farmers, cooperatives, aggregators, input companies, banks, insurers, and philanthropic and institutional partners, all at a single table.
This exchange reflects DeepLeaf's approach to agricultural diffusion: convening every actor in the sector for a shared conversation and listening carefully to their perspectives.
African agriculture is currently one of the most dynamic innovation environments in the world, with new tools and models frequently originating from those closest to the land. DeepLeaf's focus is on how these solutions are distributed, at what speed, and under what conditions a method proven in one field can be adopted across an entire region.
DeepLeaf believes AI can serve as the infrastructure that accelerates this diffusion when the people driving change on the ground and the people building the technology are engaged in genuine dialogue.
DeepLeaf thanks Keyzom Ngodup Massally, Garikai Nhongo, MCIM, and the entire UNDP AI Hub team for a week that will inform its strategy in Nigeria for years to come.
DeepLeaf was also glad to connect with Alfie Nze, facilitated by Martino Ghielmi of inAfrica.
— The DeepLeaf Team
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8 Août 2026 à 17h08
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