Agriculture holds a pivotal position in Africa's economy. Over 60% of sub-Saharan Africans engaged in small-scale farming, and agriculture contributing nearly a quarter of Africa’s GDP.
While already vital, there exists substantial potential for enhancement and modernization within the sector. One analysis posits that Africa can increase cereal and grain production two to threefold from current levels. Similar prospects extend to horticulture crops and livestock.
Augmented production would naturally bolster food security, elevate household incomes, and fortify farm resilience, among other advantages. Artificial Intelligence (AI) stands poised to play a crucial role in achieving this heightened production target.
OCCAM actively contributes with the “Planthead Diagnostic Platform”, a tool in agricultural innovation, aiming at fighting against food insecurity through real-time diagnosis and eco-friendly crop protection, that provides support to many farmers in the timely detention and treatment of crop disease. During the Second Session, Giovanni Zanoni, OCCAM presented a video on PlantHead Platform in action from villages in Kenya, with the collaboration of Professor Quirico Migheli (University of Sassari) and Professor Sheila Okoth (University of Nairobi)
READ THE FULL STATEMENT BELOW
“Thank you, Mr. Bukuru. As Professor Seddaiu introduced earlier, within the spectrum of ICT tools developed by the EWA-BELT Consortium, the PlantHead platform stands out as a pivotal instrument for plant testing and disease detection. Developed by OCCAM, the Observatory on Digital Communication, as part of task 3.1 in the EWABELT Project, and presented during the 2022 Infopoverty World Conference, Planthead Platform’s primary aim is to foster real-time diagnosis and eco-friendly crop protection to address food insecurity challenges.
Over the past year, OCCAM has worked to enhance the platform's functionality, focusing on improving user accessibility for farmers and integrating new automation features. Through collaborative efforts with African partners within the EWABELT consortium, a database featuring crop disease images and pest control measures from African case studies has been incorporated into the platform. This collaborative endeavor has culminated in the creation of a dataset comprising over 1,500 photos.
Today, the Planthead platform stands as an indispensable tool in the EWABELT Farmer Field Research Units (FFRUs), providing daily support to numerous farmers in the timely detection and treatment of crop diseases. We are now pleased to present first-hand experiences with the Planthead platform from FFRUs in Kenya, elucidating the step-by-step process that empowers farmers to promptly diagnose crop diseases.
Before showing you the video, I would like to thank Professor Sheila Okoth of the University of Nairobi and Professor Quirico Migheli of the University of Sassari for their significant contributions to the fields’ experimentations of the Planthead platform. Enjoy the video
Thank you.”
***Video playing***
The use of the PlantHead Platform: experiences from the FFRUs in Kenya - Karachuoyo, Homabay County.
The farmer opens the PlantHead Platform and sends the alert
Photos of the affected crop can be added to the ticket
The farmer specifies the name of the crop and the problem if known.
A brief description can be added to help the experts provide a diagnosis.
The farmer can now send the alert, and the real-time diagnostic system will activate to provide an immediate solution: if the farmer does not recognize the problem, the ticket will be sent to the experts.
The experts at the University of Nairobi analyzed the ticket they received from the farmer. The team is composed of Sheila Okoth, Professor, Truphosa Amakhobe, Research Assistant, and Loise Mumbi Njoki, Research Assistant.
A new mail indicates a new alert has been sent.
The expert opens the ticket and can see the image (leaves with dark spots) and a brief description.
The disease is early leaf spot (cercospora arachidiola)
The expert adds the comment with the suggested control measures and then marks the ticket as solved, adding a note
The ticket has been successfully solved.
The farmer now has a diagnosis for the crop problem and can adopt the suggested control measures:
A notification on the platform warns the farmer the ticket is solved
The suggested control measures can be chemical, biological, or agronomic
The farmer can also read the comment left by the expert on the ticket.
At the end of the video, George Odunga, University of Nairobi, interviewed Hyrine Atieno, a farmer who is using the PlantHead Platform: “Thank you for using the PlantHead Platform and for allowing us to assist you as a farmer so that you can get more yield. We keep working to improve the PlantHead Platform.
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The FINAL DECLARATION of the 23rd Infopoverty World Conference is now available! The Plan of Action including a list of projects and proposals that emerged from the discussion will be available soon. STAY TUNED!
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