Artificial intelligence helps banana growers protect the world's most favorite fruit - CGIAR

Using artificial intelligence, scientists created an easy-to-use tool to detect banana diseases and pests. Artificial intelligence-powered tools are rapidly becoming more accessible, including for people in the more remote corners of the globe. This is good news for smallholder farmers, who can use handheld technologies to run their farms more efficiently, linking them to markets, extension workers, satellite images, and climate information. The technology is also becoming a first line of defense against crop diseases and pests that can potentially destroy their harvests. A new smartphone tool developed for banana farmers scans plants for signs of five major diseases and one common pest.