MIT Solve

Solution Overview & Team Lead Details

Solution name.

JOSEPH AI

Provide a one-line summary of your solution.

System that using AI and IoT for early detection and warning of climate change and it stores and manages data on weather and climate patterns.

What specific problem are you trying to solve?

Kenya with a population of over 53 million, 36% of people live in Arid and Semi-Arid Lands (ASAL), which make up 89% of the country, while arid counties alone cover 70% of Kenya. Among the population living in ASAL, 3 million people depend on groundwater for domestic, livestock, and irrigation purposes.

However, frequent and prolonged droughts exacerbated by climate change have made survival difficult for these communities.

At the moment 10 out of 47 counties in Kenya are experiencing drought According to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), 3.5 million Kenyans are facing hunger due to acute drought by June 2022. A fourth consecutive poor rainy season could prove disastrous.

Factors contributing to climate change

1.The greenhouse effect - The presence of gases such as carbon dioxide in the atmosphere greatly affects the climate of any given place.

2. Increase in deforestation - The alarming increase in deforestation rates can be attributed to logging to create timber and firewood for domestic use and also charcoal burning.

3. Land use change: The conversion of natural habitats into agricultural land, urban areas, and other forms of human development also contributes to climate change

4.Transportation: The use of vehicles and other forms of transportation also contributes to climate change through the emissions of carbon dioxide and other pollutants.

5.Industrial activities: Industries like cement, steel, and chemical production also contribute to climate change through their emissions of greenhouse gases and pollutants.

CONSEQUENCES OF CLIMATE CHANGE

Food insecurity: Changes in temperature and rainfall patterns are leading to a decline in crop yields, which is affecting the livelihoods of farmers and contributing to food insecurity. This will also increase the risk of malnutrition and hunger for many people, particularly for vulnerable groups such as women and children.
Water scarcity: Climate change is affecting the availability of water for irrigation and human consumption, which is leading to water scarcity and reduced crop yields. This will also affect the health and well-being of people, as well as the productivity of the agricultural sector.
Disasters: Climate change is increasing the frequency and severity of extreme weather events such as droughts and floods, which are devastating for communities and the agricultural sector. This will also increase the risk of landslides and other forms of environmental degradation.
Biodiversity: Climate change is also affecting the biodiversity of Kenya's ecosystems, which is crucial for the country's agricultural sector. Changes in temperature and rainfall patterns are altering the habitats of many species, which will have a negative impact on crop pollination and pest control.
Health: Climate change also affects health and well-being, for example by increasing the spread of vector-borne diseases, such as malaria and dengue fever.
Economic: Climate change is also affecting the country's economy, as the agricultural sector is a major contributor to the country's GDP. The
decline in crop yields and the increase in the frequency and severity of extreme weather events will have a negative impact on the country's economy.

What is your solution?

Our solution does early detection and warning of climate change and stores and manages data on weather and climate patterns, which can help farmers make more informed decisions about planting and harvesting.

Our solution shall use both AI and IoT enabled sensors which can be used to collect and analyze data on temperature, precipitation, and other climate-related variables. This information can be used to improve predictions of future climate change and to develop more effective strategies for adaptation and mitigation.

This information shall be stored in a database that farmers and any other person can easily access and get to know how the weather is going to be in the future and make informed decisions and also the AI will help decision-makers to navigate complex climate change related issues, by providing them with relevant, accurate, and up-to-date information.

For example if our systems detects that in a certain year there will be drought it shall inform the user and then it shall also guide the user on what to do. So when the time comes during the drought time our user already saved enough food and what resources to enable them survive during that difficult time and not only that our system shall provide ways to deal with climate changes problems that the user can implement and make our world healthy again.

Who does your solution serve? In what ways will the solution impact their lives?

We are mostly targeting farmers and the government of Kenya. Agriculture is the backbone of the economy of the country and recently our Agriculture has been failing us due to climate changes.

We want to improve on how our farmers work and digitize their farming ways. Most Farmers in Kenya don’t have access to technology in Kenya and at times lack the ability to make informed decisions when it comes to farming. Due to the abrupt change in climate changes the farmers suffer a lot for example if they thought this was the month of rain and so the plan themselves on farming and working really hard that month and then it ends up not raining it shall cause disaster to the farmers and that shall end up affecting the whole country for we will have little to no food and water because of that.

Our system stores and manages data on weather and climate patterns and also shows early detection and warning of climate change which can help farmers make more informed decisions about planting and harvesting.

This will ensure our farmers are well planned and prepared for anything. Also since they will have more information on what is causing the climate change this information can be used by them and also the government of Kenya to implement ways to solve the problem of climate change.

How are you and your team well-positioned to deliver this solution?

My team consists of three members:

Victor Karume - he is the data scientist of the team, he does the majority of the research and is good at system analysis.
Samuel Ssekizinvu - he is a software engineer very conversant with making systems and applications.
Memusi Robi - Am the team lead. Am a junior software engineer developer and certified data scientist.

We all have background experiences in IT and have worked on different projects which have enabled us to grow our skills that have enabled us to be young IT professionals. We are also in University all pursuing IT courses.

As a team we have experienced Climate change first hand on how it affects us especially farmers. For example at the moment in Kenya there are parts of the country experiencing drought and thus there is little food and our farmers are currently helpless and the government is currently depending on imported food.

We also have family members who do farming and we have seen the challenges they face greatly due to climate change and we as a team we have seen we should do something about it and cause this unnecessary suffering to end.

What steps have you taken to understand the needs of the population you want to serve?

We have done research with our potential users. We have questioned a number of farmers on the problems they experience due to climate change and what they wish they had to make their lives better and easier.

With the information we got we did our research deeply on how to come up with a solution and we figured it out how to help them and we have been able to engage them in the solution we had which they support and they even gave us ideas on how we can make our solutions better.

Which aspects of the Challenge does your solution most closely address?

Other: Addressing an unmet social, environmental, or economic need not covered in the four dimensions above.

What is your solution’s stage of development?

Concept: An idea being explored for its feasibility to build a product, service, or business model based on that idea.

In what city, town, or region is your solution team located?

Nairobi, Kenya

Who is the Team Lead for your solution?

Memusi Robi