How harnessing AI could transform SA's food systems for sustainable growth and reduced waste

Daily Maverick

6 days ago

Reducing waste, adding nutrients to food staples, or even coming up with new recipes — computer scientists share some of the AI-powered innovations already taking shape in the Global South that could benefit African food systems.
Artificial intelligence has come into the spotlight over the past decade and even more in the past five years with people getting more access to generative chatbot AI platforms such as ChatGPT.
Researchers said there were different kinds of AI being used by countries in the Global South to help make their farming practices more efficient, from reducing food waste in the food system to fleet efficiency and making sense of food labels for consumers.
The seventh annual Food Indaba explored topics under the theme 'Artificial Intelligence and the Food System'. The Indaba ran from 7 to 20 July.
Looking at how AI technologies are shaping African food systems, the director of the eResearch Office at the University of the Western Cape (UWC), Dr Clement Nyirenda, and research scientist and science communicator Frederic Isingizwe presented some of the top applications driven by AI that are being used in the food system.
Their presentation was part of multiple discussions and panels hosted at Makers Landing, Cape Town, on Friday, 18 July 2025.
In their predictive analysis, Nyirenda said AI would be used for 'forecasting yields, market demand, improved planning, reduced waste and supply chain optimisation'.
Their presentation stated that the technology could also assist with tracing and managing inventory, optimising transport routes and food safety monitoring. Nyirenda explained that AI could help implement 'real-time monitoring of food quality and safety standards; climate resilience and climate modelling to adapt farming practices to changing weather patterns'.
AI in food systems
A number of AI innovations aimed at improving food systems are already being used to achieve sustainable and accessible food, especially for lower-income households.
In Malawi, Tanzania and Rwanda there is Sanku's Project Healthy Children, an AI tool for nutrient-rich food processing. It works with small-scale flour mills and aims to combat malnutrition by fortifying flour with essential nutrients.
Nyirenda found that the key challenges are 'equipment failures and calibration issues resulting in variable food quality'. He said AI could help 'auto-adjust micronutrient mixes during milling' while 'cloud-based AI analytics track dosing accuracy and machine performance and predictive maintenance alerts that will enable timely servicing and reduce waste'.
In East Africa, Ghana, the Caribbean and South East Asia, AgUnity aims to help smallholder farmers with record keeping, coordination to have more organised harvesting, storage and distribution. This could help reduce 'significant food spoilage and waste in rural farming systems', said Nyirenda.
'AgUninty is a low-cost smartphone that uses a blockchain-powered transaction platform built to digitally empower remote farmers and address financial and reduce digital exclusion,' Nyirenda said to delegates.
Koko is mainstreaming liquid bioethanol cooking fuel as a fast, safe and affordable alternative to dirty cooking fuels such as charcoal. They partner with the downstream fuels industry to 'drop in' this new fuel, and offer a suite of distribution, dispensing and end-use technologies that ensure customers can safely access clean fuel at prices that undercut dirty fuels. It has software-integrated bioethanol cookers that measure carbon impact.
Nyirenda said he was surprised at some of the innovations already taking shape in the Global South.
'I chose these specifically because they are used in countries with a similar socioeconomic state to South Africa,' he said.
He added that despite his tech science background, he had found himself roped into the work of food security and food systems through interdisciplinary collaboration with his colleagues at UWC's the Centre for Excellence in Food Security.
'AI can prevent the big food losses that happen in the food system. It can also help with quality control and other things such as helping to create recipes and new menus. People are coming up with cool ideas using these tools,' says Nyirenda.
Obstacles to implementation
Isingizwe shared the hindrances to rapid development of these technologies in the South African context, such as a distrust of the technology, especially in rural and farming communities.
'Obstacles in South Africa's agricultural sector can be a lack of reliable data for training AI models that are locally relevant, high costs associated with adopting AI technologies, particularly for smallholder farmers, a lack of training and expertise in AI among farmers and agricultural workers, and inadequate technological infrastructure in rural farming areas may limit access to technology and internet connectivity,' said Isingizwe.
He pointed out that not having clear policies or frameworks governing AI for integrating it in food systems was a challenge and showed a resistance to change.
'Traditional farming practices may hinder the adoption of innovative technologies,' said Isingizwe.
In his research he predicted that AI could help reduce post-harvest losses by 70%; increase farmer income by 20-40%; while retailer networks could reach more informal vendors with fewer vehicles.
One of the delegates, a small-scale farmer from Langa, said he was not aware there was so much use of AI-powered technologies in agriculture already.
'I am older so I feel like this AI stuff has already left me. We are still dealing with simple issues like accessing markets and pulling together as smallholder farmers in the community.'
Kurt Ackermann, the CEO of the South African Urban Food and Farming Trust, said that 'as the focus shifts toward the role of cities, and city planning, in addressing food security, AI could play a significant role in how the cities of the future — and by extension the food systems of the future — might better serve the needs of human beings.
'Conventional thinking about AI puts the technology at the centre of the discussion, whereas the creation of a more humane world — and how AI could help — is at the heart of Food Indaba 2025.'
Ackerman also noted that although the discussion of the day was about the practical implementation of the technology, he wanted the discussion to keep in mind the question: How do we get food on people's tables?
The South African Urban Food and Farming Trust has done immense work to help realise food security in urban spaces and has collaborated with multiple organisations for more than a decade, and even across South Africa's borders. DM