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DeepLeaf: End-to-End Crop Health Management

Morocco flag

Morocco

Agriculture

High

Implementing Organisation

Deep Leaf

Morocco, Casablanca-Settat, Sidi Bennour

Private Sector

Implementing Point of Contact

El Mahdi Aboulmanadel

Founder and CEO

Contributor of the Impact Story

Carnegie India

Year of implementation

2023

Problem statement

Late and inaccurate detection of crop diseases, pests, and nutrient stress leads to $300B in annual global losses, with 40% crop losses in Africa and Asia. 80% of smallholders lack access to expert agronomic advice. Current solutions are fragmented and reactive: satellite companies show indices but stop there, IoT solutions cost $2,500+ per site and do not scale, and agronomists are expensive and not always available. Farmers spray entire fields uniformly, wasting chemicals with no guidance on treatment timing or residue management. DeepLeaf AI enables early, accurate, and scalable crop health diagnosis using AI-powered image analysis, satellite monitoring, and expert knowledge systems—providing full accompaniment from planning to certified, residue-free harvest.

Impact story details

DeepLeaf is an agritech company developing AI-driven solutions for early detection and management of crop health risks. Its software uses computer vision and machine learning models trained on large-scale plant image datasets to identify diseases, pests, and nutrient deficiencies across diverse crops. The platform provides end-to-end farm management from planning to certified harvest, using satellite imagery (Sentinel-1/2), weather data, and AI-powered diagnostics. DeepLeaf serves farmers of all scales—from smallholders to large commercial operations—through accessible channels including WhatsApp, USSD, mobile apps, and web dashboards. The company focuses on reducing chemical inputs by 60-80% through precision agriculture while ensuring zero residues at harvest through automated pre-harvest interval compliance.

AI Technology Used

Computer Vision
Machine Learning
Remote Sensing Analytics
Predictive Analytics

Key Outcomes

Efficiency

Productivity, Economic Value Creation, Access

Reach, Accuracy

Quality Improvement, Resource Efficiency, Resilience

Risk Reduction

Narrative Outcome

Late detection of crop diseases, pests, and nutrient deficiencies leads to massive losses, with smallholders in Africa and Asia disproportionately affected. Deep Leaf uses AI to detect various crop anomalies before visible symptoms appear, achieving a high degree of accuracy. The platform enables precision targeting, reducing pesticide use while improving yields and cutting operational costs in half. Tools from Deep Leaf therefore enable a more data-driven approach to crop management and pest detection.

Impact Metrics

Accuracy in detecting crop diseases, pests, and nutrient deficiencies

Baseline Value

40 -60% accuracy was seen through manual detection

Post-Implementation

98 % accuracy achieved in detection in over 700 crop anomalies before visible symptoms

Internal Monitoring·Jun 2025 - Nov 2025

Reduction in pesticide application through precision targeting

Baseline Value

100 % field uniform spraying was seen with the entire field being treated

Post-Implementation

30 % reduction in pesticide use was seen with only 8-15% of field targeted

Internal Monitoring·Jun 2025 - Nov 2025

Improvement in crop yield through optimized treatment and early intervention

Baseline Value

Average yield with conventional farming practices Percentage increase in crop yeild

Post-Implementation

20 % improvement in yield was seen

Internal Monitoring·Jun 2025 - Nov 2025

Reduction in operational costs

Baseline Value

Conventional farming input and operational costs Percentage decrease in cost

Post-Implementation

50 % reduction in operational costs was achieved

Internal Monitoring·Jun 2025 - Nov 2025

Total agricultural land area monitored

Baseline Value

0 hectares

Post-Implementation

Over 1.2 million hectares covered by DeepLeaf Hectares

Internal Monitoring·Jun 2025 - Nov 2025

Implementation Context

Deployed

Morocco, Kenya, Qatar, with expansions in Turkey and Mexico

Smallholder farmers, commercial farms, and large-scale operations, underserved rural farming communities, women farmers and youth in agriculture across Africa and the Global South

Key Partnerships

Hassad Food (Qatar), MTN Chenosis, Les Domaines Agricoles, BRAIN by Open Startup, GIZ SAIS, TASMU Accelerator, QDB Talent Community Program, Katapult Africa Climate Program, AWS/Deloitte Social Entrepreneur Accelerator 2025

Replicability & Adaptation

High

1. Platform is designed for rapid context adaptation 2. Supports 57 crops with localized crop databases 3. Provides local language interfaces via WhatsApp, USSD, and SMS 4. Maintains country-specific product authorization databases (500+ active ingredients, 1000+ products per country) 5. Satellite-first approach works anywhere on Earth with zero hardware requirements 6. Scales from 1 hectare smallholdings to 100,000+ hectare operations 7. Optional IoT sensors and drones can be added for higher precision when needed (greenhouses, high-value crops)

* The data presented is self-reported by the respective organisations. Readers should consult the original sources for further details.