Cameroonian entrepreneurs are preparing to release an AI-based app designed to help small-scale farmers identify crop pests and early-stage plant disease, followed up with treatment recommendations.

The customisable Agrix Tech app processes information through user-supplied photos of affected plants, then offers treatment advice via text or audio in a range of preselected languages, reports Quartz Africa. With a reported 99% accuracy rate, it is able to detect diseases in a range of crops, including maize, rice and citrus.

‘In trying to find a solution, [farmers often] use a cocktail of many pesticides,’ says Maryben Chiatoh, Agrix Tech agricultural risk management expert and strategist. ‘This is very dangerous for humans and the environment.’

According to Agrix Tech, the app will be available in early 2020 with users paying an annual licence fee.

13 August 2019
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