Hyderabad: ICRISAT has launched the “Plant Health Detector” app, leveraging Artificial Intelligence (AI) to identify crop health issues. Marking its 54th Foundation Day, ICRISAT Director General Himanshu Pathak announced that the app can detect diseases, pests, and nutrient deficiencies in crops like sorghum, pearl millet, groundnut, rice, and maize. Equipped with 45 classes, it provides real-time analysis to help manage crop losses. The dataset supporting the app includes 33,972 images for accurate detection.

Himanshu Pathak said that the ICRISAT released around 1,200 varieties of corps and it has reached to 150 countries across the world. The new varieties increased from 20 per cent to 25 per cent yielding especially in dry lands.

He also called upon the scientists to take the advantage of AI and technology to overcome the challenges of drought and floods. Stating that the people of African countries were suffering from malnourishment, Pathak said that the ICRISAT scientists are improving the agricultural productivity in those countries.