Low rainfall and rising temperatures at Peki and surrounding communities are leaving much of the farmland dry and increasingly difficult to cultivate, especially during the dry season.
It is against this backdrop that a team of students from Peki Blengo Evangelical Presbyterian Junior High School, one of the beneficiary schools participating in the Telecel DigiTech Academy, set out to build a prototype solution to address the problem.
Ruth Martey, together with her teammates who underwent a 12-week practical training in robotics, presented their solution, “smart farm”, at the recent graduation ceremony for Cohort Three of the academy in the South Dayi District of the Volta Region.
“As a group, we wanted to solve a problem our communities are experiencing every day, and farming is one of the main occupations of our parents. Farmers in this region struggle with water, especially during the dry season,” Miss Martey said, as she kicked off her team’s live demonstration of the “smart farm” at the ceremony.
The “smart farm” combines an automated irrigation system with the ability to draw water from underground sources or, potentially, nearby rivers and lakes.
When soil moisture levels drop, the irrigation system is automatically triggered to water crops to the required level.
It also includes a night-light feature designed to illuminate farms and help deter animals that destroy crops under the cover of darkness.
Evans Owusu, a local farmer with 25 years’ experience in mixed cropping of cassava, plantain and cocoa, noted that the students’ focus on irrigation reflects the reality of erratic rainfall, which has made farming more difficult.
“When the rains delay, it affects everything. If a smart water system prototype can be developed into a real product and used widely, it could help increase our production and income,” Mr Owusu mentioned after the project was showcased to educators, community leaders and parents. He also serves as Chairman of the school’s Parent-Teacher Association.
The “smart farm” was one of several capstone innovations showcased by about 500 students from five regions who completed the Telecel DigiTech Academy, a three-month after-school training programme focused on robotics, coding and Internet of Things (IoT) applications.
Students from 19 schools across Ghana participated, building solutions ranging from fire and theft alarm systems to e-commerce applications, rain detectors and agricultural tools.
“The Telecel DigiTech Academy has improved critical thinking and problem-solving skills among our students who took part in it. This is the kind of learning that prepares them for the future,” Vincent Adzagbenu, Headteacher of Peki Blengo EP JHS, one of the oldest schools in Ghana, founded in 1848 by missionaries of the Evangelical Presbyterian Church, said.
The DigiTech Academy, implemented with training support from Mingo Foundation and Asustem Robotics, in partnership with the Ghana Education Service and the National STEM Centre, is designed to complement classroom teaching with practical skills.
Students learn Scratch programming, Arduino-based robotics and basic web design, and then apply those skills to solving community-based challenges.
Projects like the smart farm remain early-stage prototypes, requiring further technical development, funding and testing before they can be deployed at scale.
“What the Telecel Foundation seeks to achieve with the DigiTech Academy is to equip young people with the digital skills to build tangible solutions to real needs. We want them to become changemakers in their communities, while also exposing them to future careers in STEM,” Rita Agyeiwaa Rockson, Head of Foundation, Sustainability and External Communications at Telecel Ghana, explained.
The programme places a strong emphasis on gender inclusion, with girls making up about 70 per cent of participants nationwide. Additionally, local teachers in beneficiary schools are trained to sustain the programme’s impact beyond individual cohorts.
Since its launch in 2024, the Telecel DigiTech Academy has trained more than 2,300 students across 13 regions, with plans for further expansion nationwide in future cohorts.
BY TIMES REPORTER
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