I’m happy to have taught and coordinated another session of the Remote Sensing for Plant Health course for the EU Better Training for Safer Food initiative. This year the course featured a stronger UAV (drone) focus, with extensive hands-on demonstrations of aerial sampling of plant material, automated missions and hyper-spectral hardware setups.
In addition, the basic theoretical background of remote sensing was provided including an understanding of the physics of the electromagnetic spectrum in the visible and near-infrared and its relation to vegetation indices.
Enset Xanthomonas wilt (EXW), caused by Xanthomonas vasicola pv. musacearum (Xvm), severely impacts enset cultivation in the Ethiopian highlands. Controlled net trials demonstrated that healthy enset plants developed EXW symptoms after exposure to leafhoppers that continuously fed on Xvm-inoculated plants. Given the omnipresence of the leafhoppers in several of the studied enset-production landscapes, best management remains the timely and complete removal of all diseased plants, the use of disease-free planting materials, and clean garden tools, which in turn will also keep the risk of secondary leafhopper-vectored transmission at a minimum. Extension services should emphasize the increased EXW transmission risk in areas with high leafhopper populations as part of an integrated EXW management strategy.
It was a privilege to contribute as a panel member at the ECDPM event on “AI for Social Good and Africa’s Strategic Choices”!
It was a critical conversation about balancing AI innovation with the governance and strategic choices necessary for Africa’s equitable development. Thank you to my fellow panelists for the rigorous exchange: Melody Musoni, PhD, Jane Munga, Amb - Prof Bitange Ndemo, and Maja Fjaestad. And special thanks to Chloe Teevan for moderating!
Teaching within the EU Commission Better Training for Safer Food (BTSF) programme
ETH students present their final pro-bono machine learning solutions
We provide protocol development and data processing expertise in support of this IFPRI led project to mitigate basic risk in smallholder farmer insurance.
We provide remote sensing validation expertise in support of product development.
Research paper development on banana pests and diseases, and the sustainability of smallholder banana-producing farms
Analytical and editorial support for research on food security crops.
Smartphone repeat imagery quantifies important phenological stages of winter wheat. Small scale phenology or disturbances are not captured by satellite remote sensing. Using smartphone imagery can improve crop modeling and insurance for small farmers.