Indus Valley Times

By Shrikant Panda

Cuttack, July 29: Recently ICAR- Directorate of Cashew Research in Karnataka Cashew India App has developed the Cashew India App for cashew farmers in India and the acceptance of this app has been increasing with passage of time. After downloading the App in smart phone, farmers are getting all necessary services through this App and by using this app they can identify pests, diseases and nutrient deficiencies in cashew crop. All the solutions will be provided in regional languages and farmers can communicate with experts who can ease their problems in cashew production. Now researchers use Artificial Intelligence in agriculture sector to augment numerous types of farming in the country.

This app gives comprehensive information on cashew grafts, nursery, cultivation, plant protection, post harvest processing, market information,e-market,various stake holders such as farmers,researchers,development agencies and processors at one place. Here farmer/User can upload and store his own cashew images and videos in “My cashew” sub-section of Cultivation” section.

This App is available in Google Play store and it’s available in 11 languages, including English, Hindi and Odia. Junior scientist Dr.Kabita Sethy who works under OUAT is part of the team who developed this unique app. His app can detect sixty typed of pests, twenty types of diseases and ten types of nutrient deficiencies and it detects six types of pests and one types of disease,  and advance research is going on to increase the detection and how to provide more service to the cashew farmers.

Since 2021 upgradation of this app has been a routine affair and farmers can get information about weather in their local areas. Eminent scientists like Dr.Mohan GS, Dr.Unitha, DR.Rajshekhar, and Dr.Shamshuddin of ICAR- Directorate of Cashew Research in Karnataka have developed this app and it’s expected that there will be a much needed momentum to be gained in cashew production in the country.