INNOVATIVE DEVICE FOR DETECTING CROP DISEASES

MBABANE - A device that detects crop diseases and pests was one of the three innovations presented at the just concluded eighth COMESA Annual Research Forum.

The Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) forum was conducted between last Monday and Thursday.  The device leverages on artificial intelligence, data analytics and machine learning and has multiple small camera modules interfaced to a computer system. This is per the latest COMESA newsletter. Presenting the innovation for consideration in the COMESA Innovation Awards, Esther Kimani of Farmer-Life-Line Technologies Ltd, Kenya, said the innovation was inspired by the need to find a solution to the prevalent destruction of crops by either pests, pathogens or delayed treatment of diseases prevalent in the region.

“The camera system is programmed to capture images of the crops in the field periodically and process the images using advanced computer vision algorithms to determine the nature of the infection or infestation, any pests or pathogens,” she said.
The device comes with a camera that is solar powered and can operate even in very rainy seasons.

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