The main aim of the app, which was developed under an Indo-Japan Joint Research Laboratory Project, is to mimic the presence of an agriculture expert who is not only well versed with visual symptoms of diseases plaguing crops but can also guide the farmers on appropriate measures to tackle the same.
The current prototype has been built for the cotton crop in two languages, namely English and Telugu. “It was however designed in such a way that it is scalable for all crops and can be extended in all Indian languages too. In fact, we have already begun work on seeding the system in Hindi,” said Srinivas Annapalli, who was part of the team that developed this application.
To connect with this portable ‘expert’ on the portal www.cropdarpan.in, farmers only need a mobile phone with a valid internet connection. The Crop Darpan App is available at the play store.
“The system comes seeded with a hierarchy of questions related to visual symptoms displayed by the crops. These range from high-level generalized questions to more specific ones. When the farmer confirms the presence of the symptom, he is guided to the next level question ultimately narrowing down on the exact diagnosis of the crop ailment. Advice on the measures to mitigate the problem is also given,” said Annapalli.
