As millions of farmers suffer each year from crop and livestock deaths due to pests and diseases, some growers in Africa are turning to a host of advanced technologies, artificial intelligence (AI) and online tools to complement the services offered by extension agents in helping farmers combat these losses. PlantVillage (PV), a U.S.-based nonprofit that aims to improve the lives of farmers and agricultural productivity globally through knowledge and technology, is one key example. The organization’s eponymous AI PlantVillage app uses a technology called TensorFlow to identify objects on plant leaves and patterns indicating disease outbreaks. The tool, which is developed by using images of both healthy and diseased crop leaves, can therefore help with detecting diseases and pest symptoms for crops such as maize, cassava, Irish potatoes, finger millet and many others. “We integrated AI into our programs because relying solely on extension officers in the field for surveillance often isn’t sufficient,” Lawrence Ombwayo, the associate director of PlantVillage Kenya, told Mongabay in an interview. He explained that the app was developed to enhance the organization’s extension system, given that agricultural extension services in Kenya and across Africa are under-resourced. The organization found that relying exclusively on its extension officers limited its reach to farmers, hindering PV’s ability to disseminate information about current and emerging crop threats and reducing surveillance of the challenges farmers face, Ombwayo added. Smallholder women farmers grow maize along with oranges, avocados and a variety of vegetables in Machakos, Kenya. Image by McKay Savage via…This article was originally published on Mongabay
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