Farmerline’s Darli AI is Time’s Best Invention of 2024

Farmerline Group’s Darli AI has been recognized as one of TIME’s Best Inventions of 2024. According to Alloysius Attah, the Chief Executive Officer and Co-founder of Farmerline Group, TIME’s recognition is a testament to the power of innovation, tradition, and collaboration in driving resilience for smallholder farmers.

“Darli,” the AI tool named in honor of the mother of Alloysius Attah, means “whisper” in the Ewe language spoken by the people of the Volta Region in Ghana. It also symbolizes the gentle guidance it offers to over 1 million farmers in 27 languages, from Twi to Swahili.

In a post on Facebook, Alloysius Attah stated that as Darli AI is rolled out to the 1 million listeners who have used Farmerline’s helpline, he is grateful to all partners for their support over this period. He expressed his gratitude to the translators who spent countless hours in the studio recording audio that trained the models, allowing the group to reach farmers in their languages.

Meanwhile, he noted that the Farmerline team worked tirelessly with many partners to make this vision a reality. He specifically mentioned Microsoft, Google, NVIDIA, and Amazon for providing the computing power that helped scale up operations.

“And a big shoutout to the leaders working to preserve and deliver services in Indigenous languages. I also want to thank Ghana NLP and Lelapa AI for their groundbreaking research and leadership in this critical area,” he added.

Mr. Attah emphasized that Darli AI goes beyond advice; it teaches regenerative practices, tracks knowledge transfer, and measures the real impact on yields and carbon sequestration.