Innovation – Open view page
General information
| Innovation ID | 251 |
| Version ID | 192 |
| Innovation Title | Nuru: a smartphone application that helps farmers diagnose crop diseases in their fields |
| Innovation description | PlantVillage Nuru, which means ‘light’ in Swahili, is a smartphone application that helps in accurately diagnosing cassava diseases. The app works both online and offline and is using artificial intelligence to analyse and classify images taken in the field to detect four major cassava diseases. PlantVillage Nuru is a publicly supported, and publicly developed application. |
| Reporting Staff | James Legg (IITA), Morag Ferguson (IITA) |
| Year (Reporting) | 2019 |
| Reporting status | Approved |
| Innovation Type | Research and Communication Methodologies and Tools |
Stage reached
| Stage of Innovation | Stage 4: uptake by next user |
| Year (Stage) | 2019 |
| Stage Description | Cassava virus disease management was strengthened through the scaling out of the PlantVillage Nuru, the smartphone app which uses artificial intelligence to detect four major cassava diseases. Over 10,000 user reports have been submitted in East Africa, confirming the value of the app. |
| Next User Organization | Academic and Research,NARES/NARS,CBOs (Community based organizations) and farmers' groups |
| Has a lead organization | yes |
| Lead Organization | Pennsylvania State University |
| Top 5 contributors | International Institute of Tropical Agriculture |
Contributions and mapping
| All partners | International Institute of Tropical Agriculture-CGIAR Center/Program (Center); Pennsylvania State University-Academic Institutions (universities, colleges, etc.); University of Pittsburgh-Academic Institutions (universities, colleges, etc.) |
| Main CRP | CGIAR Research Program on Roots, Tubers and Bananas |
| Flagship project | FP3-Resilient RTB crops |
| Cluster | CA3.6-Responses to biological threats to cassava in Africa |
| Other CRPs-Flagships-Clusters | CGIAR Research Program on Roots, Tubers and Bananas,FP3-Resilient RTB crops Big Data in Agriculture,MDL-3-Inspire |
Scope
| Geographic scope | National |
| Regions | |
| Countries | Kenya,United Republic of Tanzania |
Targeted outcomes
| Main Sub-IDO | Increased resilience of agro-ecosystems and communities, especially those including smallholders |
| Other Sub-IDO | Closed yield gaps through improved agronomic and animal husbandry practices |
| Other Sub-IDO |
Evidences
| Evidences | Nuru: Pest and disease monitoring using artificial intelligence - webpage [https://bigdata.cgiar.org/inspire/inspire-challenge-2017/pest-and-disease-monitoring-by-using-artificial-intelligence/] A new smartphone app is helping farmers diagnose plant disease - BBC video [https://www.bbc.com/news/av/stories-48213363/a-new-smartphone-app-is-helping-farmers-diagnose-plant-disease] Transforming farmers’ lives with just a mobile phone - blog [https://grow.google/intl/europe/story/transforming-farmers%E2%80%99-lives-with-just-a-mobile-phone] "Amanda Ramcharan, Peter McCloskey, Kelsee Baranowski, Neema Mbilinyi, Latifa Mbwana Mrisho, Mathias Ndalahwa, James Legg, David Hughes. (20/3/2019). A mobile-based deep learning model for cassava disease diagnosis. Frontiers in Plant Science, 10 (272), pp. 1-8."African farmers get new help against cassava diseases: Nuru, their artificially intelligent assistant - Blog [https://www.rtb.cgiar.org/news/african-farmers-cassava-diseases-nuru-artificially-intelligent-assistant/] "Amanda Ramcharan, Kelsee Baranowski, Peter McCloskey, Babuali Ahmed, James Legg, David Hughes. (27/10/2017). Deep Learning for Image-Based Cassava Disease Detection. Frontiers in Plant Science, 8, pp. 1-7."PlantVillage Nuru - Google Play App [https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=plantvillage.nuru&hl=fr] |
Linked Elements
| Milestones |
| Outcome Impact Case | Nuru mobile phone app is being scaled out to help farmers in Sub-Saharan Africa identify and manage cassava diseases https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11766.1/560d85 |
| Policy |