A J Vinayak

Kasaragod-based Central Plantation Crops Research Institute (CPCRI), which is working on a project to use drones to spray fungicides on arecanut plantations, is planning use these drones for identifying pests and diseases, too.

CPCRI Director P Chowdappa told BusinessLine that drones will use artificial intelligence (AI) technology to identify pests and diseases in plantations. The Coconut Development Board has agreed to fund this project.

He said that at a September workshop on ‘AI for plantation crops’, organised by the CPCRI, he said he had stressed the need to use AI to handle challenges such as monitoring of pests and diseases in plants and of spraying plant protection chemicals on them.

Attended by technocrats, bureaucrats, business and marketing experts along with agricultural scientists, the workshop was aimed at addressing labour scarcity and other issues in plantation crops.

Explaining how AI can be used in identifying pests and diseases, Chowdappa gav the example of the fruit rot disease, which usually starts in one plant in an arecanut plantation. He said that farmers find it difficult to identify the exact plant, especially if it is raining. The problem gets compounded by the lack of skilled labour in arecanut plantations, and farmers are unable to take up spraying at the right time. The delay in spraying leads to the disease spreading in the plantation.

Stating that drones can identify the exact plant where the disease has started, he said it can spray the fungicide on that particular plant.

He said the CPCRI is working with a Bengaluru-based start-up on this project. The process of converting information on diseases and pests to machine language is on. The CPCRI should be able to come out with a prototype on this within a year, he said.

It may be mentioned here that the CPCRI had conducted a demonstration on the use of drones to spray fungicides in arecanut plantations at its regional station at Vittal in Dakshina Kannada district during May. The demonstration helped the CPCRI to further improve the drone, and consider using AI to identify pests and diseases, he added.

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