Working towards the next mobile revolution in India

Arunkumar K.R., PhD Technical Director,

Victus Laboratories India Private Limited www.victuslabs.com

Review of the best mobile apps for agriculture in Android – 2015

Disclaimer

All content included on this presentation, such as text, graphics, logos, button icons, images, app screenshots, trademarks are the property of their respective owners. This review is for educational purpose only. This review is done with an intention of highlighting the available apps for agricultural officers, field staffs, agricultural consultants and farmers to help them identify nutrient deficiency and pest symptoms for correct diagnosis. We do not suggest the information provided is perfect and the user assumes all risk for interpreting the symptoms. Ratings are based on user interface & utility from the Indian perspective and to help agricultural scientists, students, institutions, companies, mobile developers for agri apps some reference points.

ICT attempts for Indian Agriculture

Internet /PC with net access

Mobile / SMS Service

Mobile/ Recorded messages

Mobile/ MMS Service

Currently available Agri apps for Indian Agriculture

The list is not exhaustive and does not include apps focussed on mandi/market and other information like weather, etc. The focus on symptom identification & solutions.

Agri apps like Agriplaza, Kisan Mitra, Rallis Mitr, Shriram SmartKisan, Shriram FarmConnect, Insecticides are a good beginning but we still need to improve much ahead in comparison to the very user-friendly, intuitive and informative apps available currently for android.

http://www.yara.com/media/apps/checkit/

Yara CheckIT is a very intuitive and informative app. It is the best among android apps for identifying nutrient deficiency symptoms

AKR’s Rating: 9.5/10

AKR’s Rating: 9.5/10 Pros: Free, fast, covers many crops, intuitive & very informative for diagnosing nutrient deficiency symptoms Cons: after download & installation the very first update is heavy in size and take time in slower networks

Yara CheckIT

Cropalyser by Bejo is a very user-friendly, intuitive and informative app. It has the best user interface and loads comfortably even in lower spec Android mobiles

AKR’s Rating: 9/10

AKR’s Rating: 9/10 Pros: Free, Fast, intuitive & informative Cons: only for few crops

http://www.bejo.com/ww/news/cropalyser-app.aspx

Cropalyser

Citrus Diseases Key

AKR’s Rating: 9/10 Pros: Free & informative diagnosing disease symptoms Cons: heavy download, takes time to load in lower spec android devices

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.lucidcentral.mobile.citrus_diseases

Agri Apps from Lucid Mobile is highly recommended but needs space

Plant Health from APS

AKR’s Rating: 8.5/10 Pros: informative for diagnosing pest symptoms Cons: Paid, takes time to download & update, currently available only for Turf & Tomato

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.apsnet.apsreference

MyIPM AKR’s Rating: 8/10 Pros: Free, interesting UI , informative, both conventional & organic options available Cons: Currently available only for Strawberry & Peach

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=edu.clemson.myIPM

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=en.com.adob&hl=en

AKR’s Rating: 7.5/10 Pros: Free, intuitive & informative for diagnosing nutrient deficiency symptoms Cons: needs connection to server each time, takes time to load, only for few crops

Fertilizer 2.0

Farming´s Future AKR’s Rating: 7.5/10 Pros: Free, provides interesting information on trends Cons: takes time to download magazines, needs space and a bigger screen, more suited for tablets

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.bayer.bcs.farmingsfuture

AKR’s Rating: 7/10 Pros: Free, fast, intuitive & informative diagnosing nutrient deficiency symptoms Cons: not complete, only fewer symptom pictures

Deficiencies AG PHD

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.lps.agrif&hl=en

AKR’s Rating: 7/10 Pros: Free, interesting UI & has potential Cons: focussed more towards cereal crops of UK. BASF please bring an Indian version with local language support

BASF Disease ID

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.cereal&hl=en

BASF México-Cultivo del Tomate AKR’s Rating: 7/10 Pros: Free, interesting UI & has potential Cons: Not in English. BASF please bring an Indian version with local language support

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.pretech.basftomate&hl=en

BASF please develop & launch Indian version of your apps with local language support and include your nutrients product range with deficiency symptoms

IRAC Mode of Action

Description The IRAC Insecticide Mode of Action (MoA) Classification for your mobile device is an easy to use searchable database which allows you to identify insecticide active ingredients and their respective MoA groups without the need for a data connection. It is essential for Insecticide resistance management (IRM) to minimise the selection of resistance to any one type of insecticide and this is best carried out by the use of alternations, sequences or rotations of compounds from different MoA groups. The IRAC MoA application allows you search which active ingredients below to which groups and should help you in the selection of treatments for effective IRM.

AKR’s Rating: 7/10 Pros: Free, informative Cons: Small fonts. Difficult to read. BioXing’s UI for Fungicides App for Windows is much better.

http://www.windowsphone.com/en-in/store/app/fungicides-elements/957f4b6d-5f51-4551-ade6-73f919488845

Fungicides & Elements

Available only on Windows Phone. BioXing & Dow AgroSciences Please develop one for Android

HONORABLE MENTION

AKR’s Rating: 8/10 Pros: Interesting UI & very informative Cons: Paid, Not available for android

SOIL

PEST

CONTROL

PLANT

NUTRITION

FOOD

SAFETY

Improving agricultural productivity through nutrition management

and effective pest control needs educating the farmer

Mobile Apps would be the easiest way to achieve this

It will be a valuable tool for our agricultural crop consultants, field officers and all stakeholders involved in enhancing agricultural productivity

and food security

A 5 inch mobile with 2 GB RAM and 4G connectivity affordable to the Indian masses (Rs 5000/-) might be a reality in 2016

Victus Labs is developing mobile app for Indian Agriculture focusing on

nutrient deficiency symptoms. We invite pesticide companies to partner with us to provide full scale solutions to farmers

“Spectacular achievement is always preceded by unspectacular planning”

- Robert H. Schuller