A Systematic Review of Low-Cost, High-Impact, Frugal Robotics for Precision Agriculture in Sub- Sahara Africa

Agriculture employs a staggering 60% of Sub-Saharan Africa’s (SSA) total workforce, yet overall productivity remains questionably low due to labor shortages, input waste, and climate variability (FAO, 2023). Frugal robotics visibly characterized by low-cost, are locally serviceable robots designed majorly for resource-constrained farms unarguably offers a pathway to scale precision agriculture (PA) in SSA. This systematic review examines the state-of-the-art in low-cost robotic systems for weeding, planting, spraying, monitoring, and post-harvest in SSA. Analysis of 47 studies and 23 deployed prototypes from 2017-2025 was made with findings showing that while technical performance is improving, adoption is limited by power access, network connectivity, maintenance, and business models. High-impact applications cluster around autonomous weeders, UAV scouting, and sensor-based irrigation. Hence the proposal of a frugal robotics framework: modular hardware, solar power, offline AI, and community ownership. Future research must prioritize co-design with smallholders, local manufacturing, and pay-as-you-go models to cover 2-hectare farms.