The Israeli start-up and its war on pests in agriculture through artificial intelligence

The company has developed an application that is used by farmers around the world who take pictures of pests, an artificial vision system identifies them and sends them the protocol for exterminating the discovered pest. Recently, the company went through another phase when its software was used to predict the spread of a particularly violent pest - fall armyworm - from Africa to India. An interview with the company's CEO Nesi Benishti

Israeli startup company Saylog discovered an outbreak of the fall armyworm, which is capable of eliminating huge areas of corn in a short time, using an image-based artificial intelligence system that it developed, Agrio-Shield.

"A year and a half ago I founded Saylog and we developed an application whose purpose is to help small farmers mainly in the developing world who need help in identifying pests, diseases and other problems of plants that in the end, if not treated, cause nutritional deficiencies for the population that depends on them." According to Sailog's CEO, Nesi Benishti in an interview with the Hidan website. "Our system is able to identify hundreds of diseases, pests and deficiencies in plants, and it is already used by about 150 farmers around the world. But especially we are getting attention because of the detection of the pole armyworm epidemic in a new area it has invaded."

Benishti: "I am a graduate of both startups in the world of medical devices. A year and a half ago I encountered the problem of pests in agriculture, and I realized that this is a problem that can be solved using visual pattern recognition technologies, or artificial vision. I know that this technology is mature, and that it can actually replace manual work, which depends on strength A man in a machine."

"Poll armyworm creates a humanitarian problem in Africa when the pest causes damage of billions of dollars a year to agriculture on the continent. The American organization, USAID, It is suspected that the pest can spread to India."

"We started training our detection system to be able to differentiate between the pole armyworm and other pests after the company was chosen to participate in the challenge which placed USAID to fight the pest in Africa, along with 19 other companies."

"The spread did happen as we observed in mid-July, and only on July 30 did the Indian government issue an official warning. If the pest spreads in India as it did in Africa, we are talking about billions of dollars worth of damage and food shortages in the populated country."

"Approximately 150 farmers around the world already use Saylog's software. When a farmer reports the pest to us and the computer vision system recognizes the worm in the picture he took, we send him a protocol on how to eradicate the pest, but also warn other farmers in the area, who knew how to prepare, and as soon as they see One infected plant, to act immediately. For example, we helped stop an epidemic in India caused by a virus The attacker is chili pepper plants (CHILLI LEAF CURL VIRUS).

"We have been following the Paul armyworm especially since we won the USAID tender in Africa. This pest has caused a humanitarian problem in Africa and billions of dollars in damages, mainly to corn crops. Because of its rapid rate of spread, it can eliminate crops over a large area in a few days."

"This is where the American government's "clarion call" came for solutions to monitor the pest. Once it is identified, there is an ability to treat it and even eradicate it and limit its spread. What is missing is farmers' awareness and their ability to be prepared for the arrival of this pest. Because it is so destructive , the hand should be on the pulse and take care of him very quickly as soon as he arrives."

"But as mentioned, beyond treating the individual farmer, we get a picture of the spread of pests in the world and can predict spread trends. We know the army worm from our activities in Uganda. During July, we started receiving pictures of it from India and started researching."

"The researchers working in the field at the academy have suspected for a long time that this pest would spread to the Middle East and Asia, and this is a suspicion that has been talked about for a long time. We were the first to see that the pest had arrived in India and we are helping to eradicate it. We do not know if our response was successful enough because we serve tens of thousands of farmers , not a layout that allows all farmers to be alerted, but we were the first to identify it with the help of an algorithm when the first instance appeared in the field."

"The authorities in India issued an alert on July 30, about two weeks after us, and even then they issued a directive to the universities. The role of the universities in India is to go out and deliver the message to the farmers. It is a long and uncertain process that reaches all the farmers. In our algorithm, it is a matter of seconds, until that the protocols reach the mobile phones of the farmers."

Benishti points out that there is a high fear that the army worm will reach Israel and therefore the Ministry of Agriculture carries out inspections at the borders.

Benishti adds that the software has been praised by the experts. "Nvidia, a world leader in the field of artificial intelligence, wrote in praise of the system and noted that the accuracy of the algorithms is At a very high level After experimenting with the solution, we were named in Forbes Fighters against food loss."