Here is some interesting news from ICRISAT, Hyderabad for our farmers. Along with Progressive Environmental & Agricultural Technologies (PEAT), it has developed an app that allows small and marginal farmers to identify pests and diseases using their mobile phones. It will also provide these consumers appropriate remedial measures.

One of the main features of the mobile app, christened ‘Plantix’, is automated disease diagnosis. Farmers can upload a photo of their infected crop and the app will provide a diagnosis, steps to mitigate the disease, information on preventing the disease in the next cropping season, and biological treatment options for pest and disease control, informs ICRISAT on its website. “Given the rampant overuse of chemical pesticides in India the app will also help disseminate best practice methods to reduce pesticides. The app also features a library of diseases which farmers can refer in case there is no connectivity,” it says.

At the moment the 'Plantix' database has over 60,000 photographs, featuring around 30 crops from the country and 60 worldwide. It also offers prescriptions for over 200 crop diseases.

“Every time a farmer uploads a photograph for diagnosis it will be time marked and geo-referenced. Hence, the database also facilitates pest and disease outbreak monitoring and can send early warning messages for specific locations,” say the developers. The app can be downloaded on any Android-based mobile device.

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