MBZUAI launches Institute for Agriculture and AI to advance digital advisory solutions for smallholder farmers

MBZUAI has launched the Institute for Agriculture and Artificial Intelligence (IAAI) in collaboration with the International Affairs Office at the UAE Presidential Court and the Gates Foundation.  

 The IAAI is a new pioneering digital advisory hub for agriculture, dedicated to strengthening global food security by improving the lives and livelihoods of over 43 million smallholder farmers through scalable digital advisory tools, training programs and technical support teams.  

The institute is part of Abu Dhabi’s AI for Agriculture Ecosystem, a global alliance that harnesses artificial intelligence to strengthen food security and agricultural resilience worldwide.  

Small-scale farming producers often lack consistent, localized, and timely farming advice. The IAAI aims to close that gap by working with partners to fine-tune and validate open-source large language models (LLMs) for agriculture – turning frontier AI into inclusive, field-ready guidance that can be deployed at a national scale.  

By bringing together global partners to develop a new data corpus for agriculture, the IAAI will address critical gaps in language, geography, crop types, and farming practices by creating a central, trusted repository of high-quality agricultural data to train AI models safely and effectively. 

This dataset will make it possible to build open-access advisory systems that offer a new level of accuracy  and deliver real-time, localized insights on crops, pests, soils, weather, and markets – empowering farmers to make informed decisions, improve productivity, and build resilience in the face of climate change.  

The institute’s core research programs will develop deployable research outputs, including: 

• Multimodal diagnostic models that use images and data to detect crop diseases and pests.
• Voice-based advisory systems that speak local languages and adapt to farmers’ literacy levels.
• Geo- and time-aware LLMs that incorporate real-time data and region-specific knowledge. 

Her Excellency Mariam Almheiri, Head of the International Affairs Office at the UAE Presidential Court, MD of 2PointZero, said:

“The Institute for Agriculture and AI reflects the UAE’s ambition to place artificial intelligence at the service of global food systems. Together with MBZUAI and the Gates Foundation, we are building a new model of international collaboration that brings world-class research, innovation, and partnerships to the countries that need them most. This institute reinforces Abu Dhabi’s AI Ecosystem for Global Agricultural Development and demonstrates the UAE’s commitment to driving solutions that strengthen resilience and improve lives around the world.”

Eric Xing, President and University Professor of MBZUAI, added: 

“At MBZUAI, we are committed to advancing artificial intelligence for social good. Together with the Presidential Court, Gates Foundation, and our partners, we will build the datasets, technologies, and training pathways needed to offer localized, real-time, and scalable support to millions of smallholder farmers. This initiative is a forward-looking investment in the future of farming and global food security through the power of AI, and we believe it will create lasting impact for farming communities across Africa, India, and beyond.”

Bill Gates, Chair of the Gates Foundation, said: 

“Around the world, smallholder farmers are facing the harshest impacts of climate change with the fewest tools to adapt. The AI for Agriculture Ecosystem helps change that by putting practical, data-driven solutions directly in farmers’ hands. I’m grateful for the UAE’s leadership: this initiative helps strengthen food security and support farmers in a warming world.”

To learn more, visit the IAAI website.