In yet another scientific breakthrough, the National University of Science and Technology (Nust) has developed an artificial intelligence-generated application that provides farmers with knowledge and solutions for almost all major crops.
The App Crop Doctor Solutions which can be used on mobile phones provides information about all major crops,as well as details about diseases, insects, and nutrient deficiency of crops for the benefit of farmers.Last year another student from the institution developed an almost similar app, which mainly targeted youthfulfarmers.
In the latest application, Nust director of communication and marketing Mr Thabani Mpofu said besidesMbenefiting farmers the app will also benefit the whole agricultural and livestock sectors.
Mr Mpofu spoke to Chronicle about the application during the just-ended Zimbabwe International Trade Fair. He said the application was developed by a Nust student, Nkosikhona Dube who could not be contacted as he was said to be out of the country.
“The information about the disease, insects, and nutrient deficiency of crop information will be available by sharing an image of the plant or crop.
“The application was developed by our very own student, with the aid of his team. His name is Nkosikhona Dube and he has won several accolades,” he said.
Mr Mpofu said the application is available online and has various features for all major crops.
“The need to disseminate knowledge on smart agriculture and climate-smart agriculture has led to the development of the Crop Doctor Solutions to publish magazines to help farmers better understand this topic and share their stories,” said Mr Mpofu.
He said Dube and his team continuously research and develop modules being used in the mobile application for disease identification. “The application is fully developed and has features that include market updates, Government schemes, and knowledge centres. It also imparts knowledge regarding crop variety, production, and protection,” said Mr Mpofu.
He said Zimbabwe has about 7,1 million smallholder and communal farmers occupying a total of 21 million hectares of the 33,3 million hectares used for agricultural purposes.
“In general, communal and smallholder farmers occupy areas of lower natural potential for agriculture in terms of rainfall, soils, and water for irrigation.Farming
“These areas are of lower economic potential because of the distances from markets and poor communication and social infrastructure. Fully optimising and improving the yields in these areas will go a long way in attaining SDGs (Sustainable Development Goals) number 1 and 2,” said Mr Mpofu.
He said equipping farmers with technology and knowledge was developing a crowd farming platform which is under trial with two farmers, one based in Seke and the other one in Kwekwe.
Mthandazo Ncube who was studying Computer Science at Nust developed an app, which mainly targeted youthful farmers said he believed he would revolutionise farming. His application Easy Farm was to make farming easier through the provision of farming data to farmers.
Ncube said his application mainly targeted youthful farmers who always want to be on their cellphones to improve crop production. He said instead of holding meetings to educate farmers, the information was now being sent to farmers through cell phones.
Ncube said his application educates farmers on how to effectively and efficiently work on the land to boost production, provides detailed information about farming opportunities in each of the country’s provinces and crops that are recommended to grow in a particular province.
Peter Matika