Speech-based interfaces are increasingly central to agricultural advisory systems, particularly in low-resource and multilingual contexts where oral communication remains the primary channel for accessing information. Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR) is therefore a critical—but still under-examined—component of AI-enabled agricultural extension. 

This webinar presents emerging research on the state of the art in ASR for agriculture, with a focus on real-world deployment for low-resource languages. It draws on a recent review and benchmarking study examining how current ASR models perform outside laboratory settings, and what it takes to build systems that work reliably in agricultural contexts. 

Nelson Mganga, consultant for IFPRI, will open the session by reviewing existing deployments of ASR in agriculture and key findings from a systematic review of low-resource speech technologies. He will reflect on how these insights shaped IFPRI’s collaboration with Farm Radio International (FRI) to develop and deploy fine-tuned, domain-specific ASR models grounded in farmer-generated audio data. 

A second speaker from Nelson Masuki, Director of Development of GeoPoll will then present results from the technical benchmarking component of the study, comparing the performance of generic and agriculture-adapted ASR models across low-resource languages. The presentation will highlight trade-offs between model accuracy, robustness, and field usability, and discuss implications for applied research and program design. 

The session will be discussed by Joyce Nabende-Nakatumba (Makerere University), who will reflect on the findings from a computer science and language technology perspective, with particular attention to evaluation practices, institutional partnerships, and the future of speech technologies for social impact. 

Together, the webinar aims to advance a more realistic, evidence-based understanding of what ASR can deliver for agricultural advisory systems.

Speakers

• Nelson Mganga, Consultant, IFPRI; Lead on ASR research and partnership with Farm Radio International
• Nelson Masuki, Director of Development of GeoPoll  

Discussant

• Joyce Nabende-Nakatumba, Senior Lecturer, Makerere University, School of Computing and Informatics Technology

Moderator

• Eliot Jones-Garcia, Senior Research Analyst, IFPRI; PhD Candidate, Wageningen University