The need for streamlining precision agriculture data in Africa

Gobezie, Tegbaru B.; Biswas, Asim

doi:10.1007/s11119-022-09928-w

Cited by 4 publications

(2 citation statements)

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“…In addition, precision agriculture (PA) is becoming increasingly important in today’s technologically advanced world ( Langemeier and Boehlje, 2021 ; Gobezie and Biswas, 2023 ) and PA remains one of the cardinal principles of field phenotyping. The PA farming management concept relies on modern digital techniques to monitor and optimize agricultural production processes to improve crop performance ( Hedley, 2015 ; Gokool et al., 2023 ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The PA farming management concept relies on modern digital techniques to monitor and optimize agricultural production processes to improve crop performance ( Hedley, 2015 ; Gokool et al., 2023 ). Despite PA’s contributions to sustainable agriculture, its use in resource-constrained smallholder farming environments, particularly in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), has been very limited ( Gobezie and Biswas, 2023 ). Recent developments in sensor technologies, machine vision, and higher-resolution digital cameras, in tandem with advanced data processing power and other portable tools have paved the way for high-throughput plant phenotyping in the field to benefit crop breeding programs ( Deery et al., 2014 ; Zhang et al., 2016 ; Araus et al., 2022 ; Ahmed et al., 2023 ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Field phenotyping for African crops: overview and perspectives

Cudjoe,

Virlet,

Castle

et al. 2023

Front. Plant Sci.

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Improvements in crop productivity are required to meet the dietary demands of the rapidly-increasing African population. The development of key staple crop cultivars that are high-yielding and resilient to biotic and abiotic stresses is essential. To contribute to this objective, high-throughput plant phenotyping approaches are important enablers for the African plant science community to measure complex quantitative phenotypes and to establish the genetic basis of agriculturally relevant traits. These advances will facilitate the screening of germplasm for optimum performance and adaptation to low-input agriculture and resource-constrained environments. Increasing the capacity to investigate plant function and structure through non-invasive technologies is an effective strategy to aid plant breeding and additionally may contribute to precision agriculture. However, despite the significant global advances in basic knowledge and sensor technology for plant phenotyping, Africa still lags behind in the development and implementation of these systems due to several practical, financial, geographical and political barriers. Currently, field phenotyping is mostly carried out by manual methods that are prone to error, costly, labor-intensive and may come with adverse economic implications. Therefore, improvements in advanced field phenotyping capabilities and appropriate implementation are key factors for success in modern breeding and agricultural monitoring. In this review, we provide an overview of the current state of field phenotyping and the challenges limiting its implementation in some African countries. We suggest that the lack of appropriate field phenotyping infrastructures is impeding the development of improved crop cultivars and will have a detrimental impact on the agricultural sector and on food security. We highlight the prospects for integrating emerging and advanced low-cost phenotyping technologies into breeding protocols and characterizing crop responses to environmental challenges in field experimentation. Finally, we explore strategies for overcoming the barriers and maximizing the full potential of emerging field phenotyping technologies in African agriculture. This review paper will open new windows and provide new perspectives for breeders and the entire plant science community in Africa.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%