Pharmacist develops AI device to curb fish mortality

Nigerian pharmacist Ukachi Benita has created an AI-powered device named Aquamanne to help fish farmers monitor water conditions and reduce fish mortality. The inspiration for the project came after Benita witnessed a significant loss of fish in her mother's pond in March 2026, where over 3,000 fish perished out of 10,000. During a Google Gemma hackathon, Benita developed the prototype, which uses sensors and an ESP32 microcontroller to measure parameters such as dissolved oxygen, pH, and temperature.

These readings are processed by Google's Gemma AI model and relayed to a farmer's phone app. The system interprets water-quality readings and provides alerts and recommendations to prevent fish losses. Benita believes that AI can help address language barriers by presenting information in simpler terms and supporting text and voice communication in African languages.

The initial prototype was built using locally sourced components and cost around N30,000. The development of Aquamanne aims to be affordable and easy to install for fish farmers, who often suffer substantial financial losses due to deteriorating water conditions.