{ "id": "AIBD-0193", "title": "eLocust3m and AI data cleaning feed FAO's East Africa locust control, which may have averted USD 1.56 billion in losses", "summary": "PlantVillage's app, built with FAO in under a month in 2020, gathered 240,000+ records; AI removed unusable data; FAO credits the tech-enabled operation with averting USD 1.56 billion in losses.", "date_observed": "2021-05-06", "date_basis": "unassessed", "date_precision": "unassessed", "benefit_status": null, "source_collection": null, "source_entry": null, "account": "In early 2020 desert locust swarms swept the Horn of Africa. FAO's senior locust forecaster Keith Cressman asked Penn State's PlantVillage to adapt its app. PlantVillage had built FAO's fall armyworm app. eLocust3M was released on Google Play on 20 February 2020. Anyone with a smartphone could record georeferenced locust sightings; algorithms checked photos. Penn State also extended a deep-learning soil-moisture model to the affected region. FAO reported receiving up to 2,500 records a day, nearly 25 percent unusable or incorrect. It asked PlantVillage to use artificial intelligence to identify and remove the unwanted data before sharing locations with ground and air control teams. The New York Times reported over 240,000 records collected in a year by PlantVillage scouts, government personnel and citizens. The wider operation also used Garmin satellite devices, EarthRanger (Vulcan) and 28 aircraft coordinated with 51 Degrees. FAO's 6 May 2021 feature says East African control operations prevented the loss of 4 million tonnes of cereal and 800 million liters of milk. They protected 36.6 million people's food security and avoided USD 1.56 billion in losses, it says. The Times quoted FAO's estimate of USD 1.5 billion averted since February 2020. It quoted FAO's Cyril Ferrand saying swarms were prevented from spilling into the Sahel.", "category": "harm prevented", "unexpected": false, "purpose": "Collect georeferenced locust sightings from anyone with a smartphone. Automatically check photos and remove unusable records so that FAO can direct survey and control teams.", "system": "eLocust3m (PlantVillage) with AI data validation feeding FAO's Desert Locust Information Service", "model_version": "eLocust3M", "developer": "PlantVillage, Pennsylvania State University, with FAO", "deployer": "FAO Desert Locust Information Service and national locust control operations in Kenya, Ethiopia and Somalia", "location": null, "domain": "Agriculture / pest early warning", "segment": "Desert locust control", "benefit_type": "Reduced Risk", "taxonomy_note": "The AI cleaned one data stream in a wider operation, and the averted-loss figure is FAO's estimate for the whole effort.", "registry_ids": {}, "ratings": [ { "group": "societal", "depth": 3, "reason": "FAO states that East African control operations prevented the loss of 4 million tonnes of cereal and 800 million liters of milk. FAO says they protected 36.6 million people's food security. The Times quotes FAO's USD 1.5 billion averted since February 2020. These are estimates for the whole operation; AI data handling was one part." }, { "group": "organizational", "depth": 2, "reason": "FAO received up to 2,500 records a day with nearly 25 percent unusable. PlantVillage's AI removed the unwanted data. Over 240,000 records were collected in a year from scouts and citizens who could not have used the discontinued eLocust3 tablets." }, { "group": "personal", "depth": null, "reason": "No individually documented farmer outcome in the sources." } ], "ai_role": { "status": "assessed", "statement": "Two AI uses are documented: algorithms that double-check submitted photos (Times) and AI that filters unusable records out of FAO's daily intake (FAO). A Penn State deep-learning soil-moisture model is mentioned by the maker's university. The outcome figures belong to the entire control operation and no source isolates the AI's contribution. FAO is both co-developer and deployer, so its feature is maker-authored. The Times report is independent with named sources (Cressman, Ferrand, Hughes, Jeptoo, Owuor, Craig)." }, "evidence": [ { "kind": "press release", "citation": "FAO. A high-tech response is helping countries win the battle against Desert Locusts. FAO feature story, 6 May 2021.", "title": "A high-tech response is helping countries win the battle against Desert Locusts", "url": "https://www.fao.org/newsroom/story/A-high-tech-response-is-helping-countries-win-the-battle-against-Desert-Locusts/en", "date": "2021-05-06", "written_by": "makers", "quote": "nearly 25 percent of the data is unusable or incorrect and FAO again turned to PlantVIllage to harness artificial intelligence to rapidly identify and remove the unwanted data." }, { "kind": "news report", "citation": "Nuwer R. As Locusts Swarmed East Africa, This Tech Helped Squash Them. The New York Times, 8 April 2021.", "title": "As Locusts Swarmed East Africa, This Tech Helped Squash Them", "url": "https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/08/science/locust-swarms-africa.html", "date": "2021-04-08", "written_by": "independent", "quote": "Since February 2020, the F.A.O. estimates that this effort in East Africa has averted the loss of agricultural products with a commercial value of $1.5 billion" }, { "kind": "press release", "citation": "LaJeunesse S. Penn State responds: App aids UN efforts to control Africa's locust infestation. Penn State News, 21 February 2020.", "title": "Penn State responds: App aids UN efforts to control Africa's locust infestation", "url": "https://www.psu.edu/news/research/story/penn-state-responds-app-aids-un-efforts-control-africas-locust-infestation", "date": "2020-02-21", "written_by": "makers", "quote": "a very basic version, eLocust3M, was rapidly developed by Penn State and released for use on mobile phones through Google Play Store on Feb. 20." }, { "kind": "press release", "citation": "FAO. FAO Desert Locust campaign: East Africa upsurge suppressed, Kenya free from Desert Locust. Interview with Cyril Ferrand and Carla Mucavi, FAO newsroom, 15 June 2022.", "title": "FAO Desert Locust campaign: East Africa upsurge suppressed, Kenya free from Desert Locust", "url": "https://www.fao.org/newsroom/detail/fao-desert-locust-campaign-east-africa-upsurge-supressed-kenya-free-from-desert-locust/en", "date": "2022-06-15", "written_by": "makers", "quote": null } ], "replication": { "produced_by": [ "An upsurge with swarms across Kenya, Ethiopia and Somalia in 2020 and no trained locust trackers in those countries", "An existing FAO-PlantVillage app blueprint (fall armyworm) adaptable in under a month", "Scouts recruited and trained by PlantVillage and governments", "Aerial control assets (28 aircraft) coordinated through EarthRanger with 51 Degrees" ], "must_hold": [ "Smartphone coverage among scouts, with Garmin satellite devices where there is no network", "FAO's Desert Locust Information Service acting on records daily", "Control teams and aircraft available to act on reported locations" ], "echoes": [ { "date": "2021-01-13", "setting": "Kenya, Uganda, Ethiopia, Somalia: Kuzi machine-learning locust forecasting with SMS alerts by Selina Wamucii", "model_version": "Kuzi", "outcome": "unknown", "source": "TRT World, 13 January 2021" }, { "date": "2020-07-20", "setting": "East Africa: icipe MaxEnt prediction of breeding regions", "model_version": "MaxEnt (Kimathi et al.)", "outcome": "unknown", "source": "Kimathi et al. 2020, Scientific Reports, doi:10.1038/s41598-020-68895-2" } ] }, "paired_incident": null, "headline": "Locust control fed by eLocust3m may have averted USD 1.56 billion", "metric": "protected the food security of 36.6 million people and avoided USD 1.56 billion in losses", "comparator": { "against": "no locust control operations in East Africa (FAO's estimate of the losses that the control campaign averted)", "before": "loss of 4 million tonnes of cereal and 800 million litres of milk production, USD 1.56 billion in cereal and milk losses", "after": "those losses prevented and the food security of 36.6 million people protected", "basis": "assumed", "quote": "In East Africa locust control operations have prevented the loss of 4 million tonnes of cereal and 800 million litres of milk production, while protecting the food security of 36.6 million people and avoiding USD 1.56 billion in cereal and milk losses.", "url": "https://www.fao.org/newsroom/story/A-high-tech-response-is-helping-countries-win-the-battle-against-Desert-Locusts/en" }, "later": { "status": "persisted", "date": "2022-06-15", "note": "In June 2022 FAO declared the East Africa upsurge over and said it had trained 3,800 people across the region to use applications such as eLocust3 to report locusts.", "quote": "We have trained 3 800 people in the entire region on how to use innovative applications such as eLocust3 to recognize and report on Desert Locust.", "url": "https://www.fao.org/newsroom/detail/fao-desert-locust-campaign-east-africa-upsurge-supressed-kenya-free-from-desert-locust/en" }, "value": { "amount": "USD 1.56 billion", "what": "cereal and milk losses avoided by the locust control operations in East Africa that the app and AI data cleaning fed", "who": "East African farmers and herders (the food security of 36.6 million people)", "estimate": true, "quote": "In East Africa locust control operations have prevented the loss of 4 million tonnes of cereal and 800 million litres of milk production, while protecting the food security of 36.6 million people and avoiding USD 1.56 billion in cereal and milk losses.", "url": "https://www.fao.org/newsroom/story/A-high-tech-response-is-helping-countries-win-the-battle-against-Desert-Locusts/en" }, "developer_country": "United States", "deployer_country": "Italy", "unrated_because": null, "brief_notes": null, "brief": null, "revisions": [ { "date": "2026-10-20", "change": "Record drafted from the cited sources.", "source": null, "editor": "AIBD" }, { "date": "2026-10-21", "change": "Headline reworded to state the event without naming who claims it.", "source": null, "editor": "AIBD" }, { "date": "2026-10-21", "change": "Title reworded to state the event without naming who claims it.", "source": null, "editor": "AIBD" }, { "date": "2026-10-21", "change": "Benefit type set to Reduced Risk under Trustible's full taxonomy of 23 types; it was Improved Organizational Efficiency among the six first used.", "source": "https://trustible.ai/post/a-framework-for-measuring-the-benefits-of-ai/", "editor": "AIBD" }, { "date": "2026-10-21", "change": "Added what the benefit is measured against, what happened since, the model version, the value as stated from the cited sources.", "source": "https://www.fao.org/newsroom/story/A-high-tech-response-is-helping-countries-win-the-battle-against-Desert-Locusts/en; https://www.fao.org/newsroom/detail/fao-desert-locust-campaign-east-africa-upsurge-supressed-kenya-free-from-desert-locust/en; https://www.psu.edu/news/research/story/penn-state-responds-app-aids-un-efforts-control-africas-locust-infestation; https://www.fao.org/newsroom/story/A-high-tech-response-is-helping-countries-win-the-battle-against-Desert-Locusts/en", "editor": "AIBD" }, { "date": "2026-10-21", "change": "Country of the developer and the deployer added from the organization's own site or a registry.", "source": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pennsylvania_State_University; https://www.fao.org/contact-us/en", "editor": "AIBD" }, { "date": "2026-10-21", "change": "Prose pass: a rating reason, account, purpose, the system's part rewritten in shorter sentences with abbreviations expanded; facts, figures and quotations unchanged.", "source": null, "editor": "AIBD" }, { "date": "2026-10-25", "change": "Clarified the displayed field answers and placed measurements and limitations in their respective fields.", "source": null, "editor": "AIBD" } ], "confidence": "reported", "shade": "medium", "claim_status": "Independently reported", "claim_basis": "Sources: one independent news report and three press releases from the makers. 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Over 240,000 records were collected in a year from scouts and citizens who could not have used the discontinued eLocust3 tablets." }, { "group": "personal", "reason": "No individually documented farmer outcome in the sources." } ] } }, "provenance": { "kind": "legacy_record", "basis": "Preserved from the existing AIBD record; external sources were not rechecked.", "record_fields": [ "ratings" ], "source_refs": [] }, "review_state": "record_mapped", "coverage": "partial" }, "assessments[].display_confidence": { "state": "value_present", "value": { "kind": "structured", "data": { "confidence": "medium", "evidence_word": "reported", "claim_status": "Independently reported", "basis": "Sources: one independent news report and three press releases from the makers. 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These are estimates for the whole operation; AI data handling was one part." }, { "group": "organizational", "depth": 2, "reason": "FAO received up to 2,500 records a day with nearly 25 percent unusable. PlantVillage's AI removed the unwanted data. Over 240,000 records were collected in a year from scouts and citizens who could not have used the discontinued eLocust3 tablets." }, { "group": "personal", "reason": "No individually documented farmer outcome in the sources." } ] } }, "provenance": { "kind": "legacy_record", "basis": "Preserved from the existing AIBD record; external sources were not rechecked.", "record_fields": [ "ratings" ], "source_refs": [] }, "review_state": "record_mapped", "coverage": "partial", "display": { "answer": "FAO states that the campaign prevented the loss of 4 million metric tons of cereal and 800 million liters of milk. PlantVillage helped FAO process up to 2,500 reports a day, about a quarter of which were initially unusable. 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Each statement retains its source review status. The mapping performs no new source review or currency conversion and does not establish additional value from AI.", "record_fields": [], "source_refs": [ "https://www.fao.org/newsroom/story/A-high-tech-response-is-helping-countries-win-the-battle-against-Desert-Locusts/en" ] }, "review_state": "record_mapped", "coverage": "partial" }, "economics[].currency_price_basis": { "state": "value_present", "value": { "kind": "structured", "data": { "answer": "USD, stated in the source. 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FAO's senior locust forecaster Keith Cressman asked Penn State's PlantVillage to adapt its app. PlantVillage had built FAO's fall armyworm app. eLocust3M was released on Google Play on 20 February 2020. Anyone with a smartphone could record georeferenced locust sightings; algorithms checked photos. Penn State also extended a deep-learning soil-moisture model to the affected region. FAO reported receiving up to 2,500 records a day, nearly 25 percent unusable or incorrect. It asked PlantVillage to use artificial intelligence to identify and remove the unwanted data before sharing locations with ground and air control teams. The New York Times reported over 240,000 records collected in a year by PlantVillage scouts, government personnel and citizens. The wider operation also used Garmin satellite devices, EarthRanger (Vulcan) and 28 aircraft coordinated with 51 Degrees. FAO's 6 May 2021 feature says East African control operations prevented the loss of 4 million tonnes of cereal and 800 million liters of milk. They protected 36.6 million people's food security and avoided USD 1.56 billion in losses, it says. The Times quoted FAO's estimate of USD 1.5 billion averted since February 2020. It quoted FAO's Cyril Ferrand saying swarms were prevented from spilling into the Sahel." } }, "provenance": { "kind": "legacy_record", "basis": "Preserved from the existing AIBD record; external sources were not rechecked.", "record_fields": [ "summary", "account" ], "source_refs": [] }, "review_state": "record_mapped", "coverage": "partial" }, "systems[].autonomy_permissions": { "state": "not_assessed", "review_state": "not_assessed", "coverage": "partial" }, "systems[].component_role": { "state": "value_present", "value": { "kind": "text", "text": "The software checked submitted photographs and filtered unusable reports before FAO analysis." }, "provenance": { "kind": "legacy_record", "basis": "Restated the mechanical task already described in the existing system and AI-role fields. No new source review is claimed.", "record_fields": [ "system", "ai_role" ], "source_refs": [] }, "review_state": "record_mapped", "coverage": "partial" }, "systems[].deployment_configuration": { "state": "value_present", "value": { "kind": "text", "text": "The deployment used eLocust3M." }, "provenance": { "kind": "legacy_record", "basis": "Separated the model, software, hardware, or operation already described in the existing record. No new source review is claimed.", "record_fields": [ "model_version", "system", "ai_role" ], "source_refs": [] }, "review_state": "record_mapped", "coverage": "partial" }, "systems[].inputs_outputs": { "state": "not_assessed", "review_state": "not_assessed", "coverage": "partial" }, "systems[].model_name": { "state": "not_assessed", "review_state": "not_assessed", "coverage": "partial" }, "systems[].model_version": { "state": "value_present", "value": { "kind": "record_fields", "fields": { "model_version": "eLocust3M" } }, "provenance": { "kind": "legacy_record", "basis": "Preserved from the existing AIBD record; external sources were not rechecked.", "record_fields": [ "model_version" ], "source_refs": [] }, "review_state": "record_mapped", "coverage": "partial", "display": { "answer": "Exact release not established.", "editor_note": "" } }, "systems[].product_name": { "state": "value_present", "value": { "kind": "record_fields", "fields": { "system": "eLocust3m (PlantVillage) with AI data validation feeding FAO's Desert Locust Information Service" } }, "provenance": { "kind": "legacy_record", "basis": "Preserved from the existing AIBD record; external sources were not rechecked.", "record_fields": [ "system" ], "source_refs": [] }, "review_state": "record_mapped", "coverage": "partial" }, "systems[].provider": { "state": "value_present", "value": { "kind": "structured", "data": { "application_developer": "PlantVillage, Pennsylvania State University, with FAO" } }, "provenance": { "kind": "legacy_record", "basis": "Mapped from the existing case description without a new external source review.", "record_fields": [ "developer" ], "source_refs": [] }, "review_state": "record_mapped", "coverage": "partial" }, "taxonomy_crosswalks[]": { "state": "not_assessed", "review_state": "not_assessed", "coverage": "partial" }, "title": { "state": "value_present", "value": { "kind": "record_fields", "fields": { "title": "eLocust3m and AI data cleaning feed FAO's East Africa locust control, which may have averted USD 1.56 billion in losses", "headline": "Locust control fed by eLocust3m may have averted USD 1.56 billion" } }, "provenance": { "kind": "legacy_record", "basis": "Preserved from the existing AIBD record; external sources were not rechecked.", "record_fields": [ "title", "headline" ], "source_refs": [] }, "review_state": "record_mapped", "coverage": "partial" }, "version": { "state": "value_present", "value": { "kind": "identifiers", "identifiers": [ "7a5092b62a3325fadb137449f080787adc9da3bf2ff54dec74ee80646e5f1f07" ], "role": "SHA-256 of normalized original case data" }, "provenance": { "kind": "curatorial", "basis": "Deterministic content version assigned by the local migration.", "record_fields": [], "source_refs": [] }, "review_state": "record_mapped", "coverage": "complete" }, "workflow": { "state": "value_present", "value": { "kind": "record_fields", "fields": { "account": "In early 2020 desert locust swarms swept the Horn of Africa. FAO's senior locust forecaster Keith Cressman asked Penn State's PlantVillage to adapt its app. PlantVillage had built FAO's fall armyworm app. eLocust3M was released on Google Play on 20 February 2020. Anyone with a smartphone could record georeferenced locust sightings; algorithms checked photos. Penn State also extended a deep-learning soil-moisture model to the affected region. FAO reported receiving up to 2,500 records a day, nearly 25 percent unusable or incorrect. It asked PlantVillage to use artificial intelligence to identify and remove the unwanted data before sharing locations with ground and air control teams. The New York Times reported over 240,000 records collected in a year by PlantVillage scouts, government personnel and citizens. The wider operation also used Garmin satellite devices, EarthRanger (Vulcan) and 28 aircraft coordinated with 51 Degrees. FAO's 6 May 2021 feature says East African control operations prevented the loss of 4 million tonnes of cereal and 800 million liters of milk. They protected 36.6 million people's food security and avoided USD 1.56 billion in losses, it says. The Times quoted FAO's estimate of USD 1.5 billion averted since February 2020. It quoted FAO's Cyril Ferrand saying swarms were prevented from spilling into the Sahel.", "replication": { "produced_by": [ "An upsurge with swarms across Kenya, Ethiopia and Somalia in 2020 and no trained locust trackers in those countries", "An existing FAO-PlantVillage app blueprint (fall armyworm) adaptable in under a month", "Scouts recruited and trained by PlantVillage and governments", "Aerial control assets (28 aircraft) coordinated through EarthRanger with 51 Degrees" ], "must_hold": [ "Smartphone coverage among scouts, with Garmin satellite devices where there is no network", "FAO's Desert Locust Information Service acting on records daily", "Control teams and aircraft available to act on reported locations" ], "echoes": [ { "date": "2021-01-13", "setting": "Kenya, Uganda, Ethiopia, Somalia: Kuzi machine-learning locust forecasting with SMS alerts by Selina Wamucii", "model_version": "Kuzi", "outcome": "unknown", "source": "TRT World, 13 January 2021" }, { "date": "2020-07-20", "setting": "East Africa: icipe MaxEnt prediction of breeding regions", "model_version": "MaxEnt (Kimathi et al.)", "outcome": "unknown", "source": "Kimathi et al. 2020, Scientific Reports, doi:10.1038/s41598-020-68895-2" } ] } } }, "provenance": { "kind": "legacy_record", "basis": "Preserved from the existing AIBD record; external sources were not rechecked.", "record_fields": [ "account", "replication" ], "source_refs": [] }, "review_state": "record_mapped", "coverage": "partial", "display": { "answer": "Scouts and residents sent locust sightings through eLocust3m. PlantVillage’s software removed unusable data. FAO used the reports to direct control teams and aircraft." } } }, "summary": { "total": 91, "addressed": 91, "known": 42, "reviewed": 0, "record_mapped": 42, "not_assessed": 49, "complete": false, "by_state": { "value_present": 42, "not_reported": 0, "unresolved": 0, "not_assessed": 49, "not_applicable": 0, "withheld": 0, "source_unavailable": 0 } } } }