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IBM Supports African Agricultural Start-ups through Digital4Agriculture Initiative

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IBM on Tuesday announced that it is supporting the Digital4Agriculture Initiative (D4Ag), which aims to foster African start-ups in the agricultural sector and strengthen the long-term living conditions of local small farmers by increasing productivity and quality.

With the help of digital expertise from IBM Services and access to accurate weather data provided by IBM’s The Weather Company, D4Ag has successfully launched and is helping over 36 African agricultural companies become better prepared for the digital future.

Reliable weather forecasts are very difficult to make for Africa’s agricultural industry due to IT infrastructure unavailability.

Small agricultural enterprises not only lack internet access and suitable hardware, but existing data is often unreliable or difficult to process.

By making high-resolution weather data available to agricultural start-ups, DG4Ag is providing valuable information to small farmers that can help them make important decisions with greater confidence.

For example, historical weather data from a tea plantation served as training material and showed how data analysis can be used to increase yields, as well as to determine the best time to harvest or the optimal use of fertilisers or pest control.

“We want to help local start-ups to reach more customers and develop new markets.
“To this end, we provide them with basic knowledge in the areas of data analytics, interoperability and business modelling, said Desiree Winges, consultant at Make-IT in Africa and responsible for D4Ag.

”We also want to promote cooperation between start-ups and platform operators to fully exploit the opportunities of the digital world.”

On behalf of the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), the German Society for International Cooperation (GIZ) is implementing the D4Ag program within the framework of the project “Make-IT in Africa”.

This project is designed to promote the start-up scene in the digital sector of developing and emerging countries together with (primarily) European technology companies, start-ups, associations, research & science and non-governmental organizations. IBM joined the Make-IT Alliance in 2017 as part of its #GoodTechIBM program.

“Small farmers are the backbone of Africa’s food supply and their success and quality of life depends upon having reliable weather forecast data and insights,” said Florian Scheil, Account Executive Public Sector, IBM.

“We’re proud to provide African farmers with weather information and services access to help them better manage and improve their crop production.”

Three-stage training expands skills of agricultural start-ups

Experts from GIZ and IBM Services have been working together on the project for about three years and have developed a digital coaching concept for start-ups offering agricultural services to African farmers.

The high-resolution weather data, which serves as a basis, is provided by The Weather Company.

To achieve this, IBM Services and GIZ have created a three-stage, interactive training concept consisting of individual e-learning, workshops on business modelling, interoperability and data analytics and detailed materials with tips and suggestions for future projects.

The virtual training lasted several weeks and showed the participants how to use high-resolution weather data and up-to-date alerts to help smallholders grow their products more sustainably and healthily.

Reading tea leaves in the digital age

In the workshop, participants were able to analyse historical data about a tea plantation – crop size, temperature, rainfall, etc. – and determine whether there is, for example, a correlation between weather conditions and yields.

“The next step was to use the results for the future. If you discover a pattern, you can plan future harvest phases accordingly and thus increase yields in the long term,” explains Silas Macharia, trainer at D4Ag’s Capacity Development Workshop.

Overall, the use of weather data can make our food healthier: if a farmer adapts the use of fertilisers to the weather, he can reduce the amount of fertiliser needed.

Consumers benefit from healthy products, while farmers can get a better price for high quality products. This can be tracked – right up to the supermarket shelf – by block-chain-based platforms such as FoodTrust.

Access to information from the industry enables start-ups to establish themselves successfully on the market in the long term, thus ensuring more jobs in the region and stable growth.

In the first edition of the training sessions, more than 36 start-ups from 13 countries such as Côte d’Ivoire, Nigeria, Kenya, Ghana and Zimbabwe in Africa took part. The participants overwhelmingly realized a positive outcome and look optimistically into the future.

“This course came at exactly the right time for my company. We are currently considering integration into a larger digital platform and this week has really opened my eyes,” says Fred Zamblé of Seekewa, an Agrifintech that identifies promising agricultural projects and promotes them with the help of third parties.

 

 


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Ugo Onwuaso is an ICT enthusiast. He believes technology should be used for general good. He holds a Master of Public Administration (MPA) degree from the Lagos state University. Dear Reader, Your support matters. But we believe that technology makes life more exciting and helps improve the lives of people around Nigeria and indeed the world. That is why, we have devoted our energy to independent reportage of technology and finance and how they affect lives. Our incisive and analytical view of how technology news affects the daily life help individuals and organizations make up their minds. Quality journalism costs money. Today, we're asking that you support us to do more. Kindly support our effort to deliver technology and finance journalism to everyone in the world. Donate as little as N1,000. Bank transfers can be made to: UBA Plc 1017156876 Communication Week Media Ltd

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OpenAI Launches ChatGPT Health

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OpenAI maker of ChatGPT is rolling out a health-focused feature to the generative artificial intelligence (AI) tool that’s used by nearly a billion users.

Named ChatGPT Health, the new feature aims to provide users with health and wellness information. This, as health is one of the most common ways people use ChatGPT, according to OpenAI.

In a blog post, Microsoft-backed OpenAI says de-identified analysis of conversations show that over 230 million people globally ask health and wellness-related questions on ChatGPT every week.

ChatGPT Health will also “securely” connect medical records and wellness apps to ground conversations with a user’s own health information, making responses more relevant and useful.

“Designed in close collaboration with physicians, ChatGPT Health helps people take a more active role in understanding and managing their health and wellness – while supporting, not replacing, care from clinicians.”

According to OpenAI, health information is often scattered across portals, apps, wearables, PDFs, and medical notes making it hard to see the full picture, and people are left to navigate a complex healthcare system on their own.

“ChatGPT Health builds on these so responses are informed by your health information and context. You can now securely connect medical records and wellness apps – like Apple Health, Function, and MyFitnessPal – so ChatGPT can help you understand recent test results, prepare for appointments with your doctor, get advice on how to approach your diet and workout routine, or understand the trade-offs of different insurance options based on your healthcare patterns.”

According to the company, ChatGPT Health is designed to support, not replace, medical care, adding that it is not intended for diagnosis or treatment. “Instead, it helps you navigate everyday questions and understand patterns over time – not just moments of illness – so you can feel more informed and prepared for important medical conversations.

“To keep your health information protected and secure, Health operates as a separate space with enhanced privacy to protect sensitive data. Conversations in Health are not used to train our foundation models. If you start a health-related conversation in ChatGPT, we’ll suggest moving into Health for these additional protections.”

OpenAI adds that access to ChatGPT Health has started with a small group of early users to learn and continue refining the experience, adding that users with ChatGPT Free, Go, Plus, and Pro plans outside of the European Economic Area, Switzerland, and the UK are eligible.

“As we make improvements, we plan to expand access and make Health available to all users on web and iOS in the coming weeks.

“Medical record integrations and some apps are available in the US only, and connecting Apple Health requires iOS.”


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Kaspersky Shares AI Cybersecurity Predictions for 2026

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Kaspersky experts outline how the rapid development of AI is reshaping the cybersecurity landscape in 2026, both for individual users and for businesses. Large language models (LLMs) are influencing defensive capabilities while simultaneously expanding opportunities for threat actors.

Deepfakes are becoming a mainstream technology, and awareness will continue to grow. Companies are increasingly discussing the risks of synthetic content and training employees to reduce the likelihood of falling victim to it. As the volume of deepfakes grows, so does the range of formats in which they appear.

At the same time, awareness is rising not only within organisations but also among regular users: end consumers encounter fake content more often and better understand the nature of such threats. As a result, deepfakes are becoming a stable element of the security agenda, requiring a systematic approach to training and internal policies.

Deepfake quality will improve through better audio and a lowering barrier to entry. The visual quality of deepfakes is already high, while realistic audio remains the main area for future growth.

At the same time, content generation tools are becoming easier to use: even non-experts can now create a mid-quality deepfake in just a few clicks. As a result, the average quality continues to rise, creation becomes accessible to a far broader audience, and these capabilities will inevitably continue to be leveraged by cybercriminals.

Online deepfakes will continue to evolve but remain tools for advanced users. Real-time face and voice swapping technologies are improving, but their setup still requires more advanced technical skills. Wide adoption is unlikely, yet the risks in targeted scenarios will grow: increasing realism and the ability to manipulate video through virtual cameras make such attacks more convincing.

Efforts to develop a reliable system for labelling AI-generated content will continue. There are still no unified criteria for reliably identifying synthetic content, and current labels are easy to bypass or remove, especially when working with open-source models. For this reason, new technical and regulatory initiatives aimed at addressing the problem are likely to emerge.

Open-weight models will approach top closed models in many cybersecurity-related tasks, which create more opportunities for misuse. Closed models still offer stricter control mechanisms and safeguards, limiting abuse.

However, open-source systems are rapidly catching up in functionality and circulate without comparable restrictions. This blurs the difference between proprietary models and open-source models both of which can be used efficiently for undesired or malicious purposes.

The line between legitimate and fraudulent AI-generated content will become increasingly blurred. AI can already produce well-crafted scam emails, convincing visual identities, and high-quality phishing pages.

At the same time, major brands are adopting synthetic materials in advertising, making AI-generated content look familiar and visually “normal.” As a result, distinguishing real from fake will become even more challenging, both for users and for automated detection systems.

AI will become a cross-chain tool in cyberattacks and be used across most stages of the kill chain. Threat actors already employ LLMs to write code, build infrastructure, and automate operational tasks.

Further advances will reinforce this trend: AI will increasingly support multiple stages of an attack, from preparation and communication to assembling malicious components, probing for vulnerabilities and deploying tools. Attackers will also work to hide signs of AI involvement, making such operations harder to analyse.

“While AI tools are being used in cyberattacks, they are also becoming a more common tool in security analysis and influence how SOC teams work. Agent-based systems will be able to continuously scan infrastructure, identify vulnerabilities, and gather contextual information for investigations, reducing the amount of manual routine work.

“As a result, specialists will shift from manually searching for data to making decisions based on already-prepared context. In parallel, security tools will transition to natural-language interfaces, enabling prompts instead of complex technical queries,” adds Vladislav Tushkanov, Research Development Group Manager at Kaspersky.

 


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Nigerians with Albinism Reject Pity, Demand Dignity at Empowerment Forum

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Nigerians living with albinism say their biggest challenge is not skin sensitivity or poor eyesight, but being seen, heard and treated as full human beings, a message that resonated at a recent empowerment session hosted by the Consumer Advocacy and Empowerment Foundation (CADEF) and Albino Empowerment Foundation.

Nigerians with Albinism Reject Pity, Demand Dignity at Empowerment Forum

CADEF

The event last Saturday focused on lived experiences, self-advocacy and rights awareness rather than handouts, though participants received food, protective clothing and skin/eye care materials.

CADEF Executive Director, Prof. Chiso Ndukwe-Okafor, said real progress requires respect and inclusion, not pity, adding that knowledge of human rights equips people to demand fairness.

“Dignity begins when people are seen fully and treated equally,” she said.

Ifeoma Ngesina, founder of Albino Empowerment Foundation, defined inclusion as equal rights and participation in decisions affecting their lives, not stereotypes.

“When persons with albinism are included in schools, workplaces, leadership and media, harmful myths fade,” she said, stressing it builds confidence and leadership.

CADEF Advisory Board Member, Ms Kobi Ikpo, urged participants to own their narrative: “If you do not tell people how to treat you, they will not know how to address you. Once you accept yourself as a complete human being deserving of respect, it reflects in how you carry yourself — and that confidence commands respect.”

Afolake Odudinu highlighted parental ignorance leading to school dropouts, skin damage from sun exposure and social/marital stigma, noting skin cancer treatment remains inaccessible for many.

Efosa Peter, a father and associate pastor, rejected pity for genuine empowerment: “I hate pity. I don’t want to be pitied — I want empowerment.” He described persons with albinism as creatively gifted and warned against insincere initiatives.

“Empowerment must include self-esteem and self-motivation. When you see yourself as whole, others will follow,” he said.

Teacher Rose Adudu shared overcoming school bullying through discipline and advocacy, helping enrol a young albino girl in school despite later parental withdrawal.

“Your character will speak for you,” she said.

Participants were encouraged to use content creation for education and myth-busting, with CADEF planning annual events and advancing Digital Financial Inclusion Rights for Persons With Disabilities.

The forum underscored a core demand: opportunity, understanding and respect over sympathy.


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