Debo engineering, an agritech startup established in Jimma developed an app that automatically detects and categorizes plant diseases through image detection after running the image through an algorithm.
Over the years and in the present day, farmers are only able to detect crop diseases with their naked eyes, as a result making tough decisions on which chemical or fertilizer to use. To ensure the actual disease is detected, in-depth knowledge of disease types and experience with diseased plants is needed. Some of these diseases look almost identical to farmers and, most time, left confused.
If farmers make wrong predictions on the type of disease, it might lead to taking wrong decisions on the fertilizers or chemicals to apply in treating cultivation problems leading to loss of crops, soil loading, and more expenses caused by the unnecessary use of fertilizers, pesticides, additives and growth regulators.
Excessive use of the inputs weakens the plant immune system and root systems, reducing the concentration of essential plant nutrients in the soil like phosphorous and oxygen, consequently reducing the long-term cultivation productivity.
With crop diagnosis applications, pest management decisions will improve, providing more detailed identification, aid selection of indicated chemical without mistake, and application as required.
To prevent such cultivation loss, farmers need better and accurate guidance on disease identification, the ability to visually differentiate between two or more similar disease types, and recommendations on decision making.
Debo engineering developed an app that automatically detects and categorizes plant diseases through image detection after running the image through an algorithm. It designs and develops smart engineering application solutions for problems that require a digital solution for education, transportation, health, agriculture, and other sectors. The startup use applied engineering, focusing on newly evolving technologies like Image processing, IoT, artificial intelligence, ML, big data, and mobile computing.
Though the solution can only be accessed through a monthly subscription on mobile application s or on the web. After detecting plant disease, the application recommends decisions to be taken for the user.
In addition, Debo provides desktop applications which assists research institutes and commercial farms in making analysis and providing drone rental services for large commercial farms.
Even though a lot of Debo’s prospects are urban farmers located in Jimma town, the startup served more than 300 customers last year.
The founders of Debo Engineering are Boaz Berhanu and Jermia Bayisa. Both of them have an engineering background and have won varieties of awards. The startup team won the Ethiopia Competitors of Novice Innovation and Agritech Slam 2019 Business Competitors and MEST Africa. The accolades have helped them to raise the startup fund needed to implement their ideas.
Boaz stated that: The algorithm can detect diseases early on large commercial farms and can identify more than 24 diseases. The startup database has over 71,000 photos in its database, accessible in four languages.
By using the application, farmers can prevent errors that cost money and time, protect the environment/soil, stop unnecessary exposure to chemicals, and maximize farm productivity.
