WINDHOEK, Aug. 20 (Xinhua) -- Namibia has terminated an agreement with U.S. agricultural technology company 6th Grain Corporation to deploy an artificial intelligence- and satellite-based crop monitoring system, citing legal and procedural concerns, an official said in a statement released late Wednesday.
Romeo Muyunda, deputy director at the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Land Reform, said in the statement that the decision followed a comprehensive review of the Remote Sensing Agricultural Services Agreement and the circumstances surrounding its conclusion.
"The agreement did not meet the requisite legal and procedural requirements applicable to contractual arrangements entered into on behalf of government," Muyunda said.
The government subsequently invoked the agreement's termination provisions and issued a formal written notice to 6th Grain Corporation, he said.
Muyunda said the termination was intended to safeguard state interests and ensure that government contracts comply with applicable laws, policies, regulations and established procedures.
The agreement, reportedly worth about 2.4 million U.S. dollars, was intended to provide Namibia with satellite-based crop monitoring, remote sensing, geospatial analytics and AI tools to improve crop forecasting, drought monitoring and agricultural planning.
The U.S. tech firm, founded in 2015, specializes in using AI to track crop health, forecast yields, and mitigate agricultural risks for both smallholder farmers and large commercial agribusinesses. ■