ByVincent Kipyegon
THE DISRUPTION OF evolving technology has impacted all sectors of our daily lives, and as it continues to evolve, technology keeps boosting production at work. Artificial intelligence, referred to as AI, is an emerging technology consisting of computer programs that mimic human-level intelligence in learning, reasoning, and problem-solving capabilities
AI tools are available for end users as chat interfaces via web browsers or smartphone mobile application. Users can seamlessly interact with them by writing text-based questions, uploading images, and files accompanied with prompts
In the agricultural sector, the application of artificial intelligence presents endless opportunities in improving crop yield and boosting production across the sector, from seed planting to market. AI plays a vital role in value addition, providing valuable insights based on the existing processes.
A particular section where AI plays a vital role is crop disease detection and management, where these programs have been fed with millions of information on crop diseases so that they can ingest them and provide meaningful information important to farmers in identifying diseases affecting crops.
As a farmer, during one of the frequent farm inspections, you spot an abnormality in your crops; you take a picture using your phone and upload it to one of the AI tools, prompt it to identify the issue, the tool searches through its system and returns with results.
Google Gemini is a freely available web-based AI tool for users with Gmail accounts to interact with AI. The chatbot-based tool enables users to interact with it, upload files and images, and request a response. An example is a picture of capsicum fruit, commonly referred to as pili pili hoho, with a disease that a farmer wanted to identify and prevent. The picture was uploaded to Gemini and prompted as below.
Gemini returned the response that the capsicum had developed blossom end rot, a physiological disorder affecting peppers and tomatoes that is primarily caused by a deficiency of calcium in the developing fruit. According to Gemini, blossom-end rot(BER) has the following symptoms:
- Dark and leathery spots on the blossom end of the fruit.
- The affected area may start as a watery-soaked spot that quickly turns black.
- Dry rot in the blossom end of the capsicum fruit, which in severe cases causes the entire end of the fruit to rot.
Finally, it provided treatment and prevention measures for managing the disease.
Since most AI tools are not opinionated, they do not recommend specific pesticides and drugs but rather adjust to default recommendations, organic ways of disease prevention and treatment.
- Proper fertilization – use balanced fertilizer targeting the fruiting stage of capsicum crops and avoid excessive use of nitrogen-based fertilizer. Apply foliar sprays that contain sufficient but not excess calcium supplements to the leaves and the developing fruits. Use compost manure to improve soil structure and water retention.
- Conduct a soil test to determine the soil pH and nutrient levels. Recommended soil pH for capsicum is 6-6.8
- Frequent watering of plants to maintain even soil moisture.
- Observe proper farm hygiene and sanitation by removing affected plants from the farm to prevent further spreading.
- Plant certified seeds, ensuring proper spacing of 45 cm by 60 cm.
- Avoid root damage during transplanting, as this can impede the absorption of calcium.
The integration of AI in agricultural processes can lead to increased farmer knowledge, resulting in a boost in farm yields, environmental conservation, improved human and animal health, and increased revenue due to higher farm produce, which in turn improves livelihoods and alleviates poverty.
James Ochieng works at Biovision Africa Trust under the Farmer Communication Program