Information Efficiency of Agricultural Expert System (original) (raw)
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Percieved Information content of agri expert systems among extension professionals
Kerala State Council for Science, Technology and Environment, 2017
Results revealed that half of the respondents i.e. 50 per cent perceived that information content of agri-expert systems were of high completeness and understandability followed by medium (34%) and low (16%) respectively. In case of the agricultural officers’ distribution, more than half of the respondents’ i.e. 57.5 per cent respondents marked that information content of agri-expert systems understandability were high followed by medium (30%) and low (12.5%) respectively. With respect to front line extension personnel, 40 per cent respondents opined it as high followed by medium (36.66%) and low (23.33%) respectively. In case of scientists, half of the respondents i.e. 50 per cent opined that the same was high followed by medium (36.66%) and low (13.33%) respectively. Hence it was inferred that 50 per cent of the respondents felt, information content in terms of its completeness and understandability of agri-expert systems as high. This might be because expert systems were highly crop specific or technology specific than general packages. They are providing more information on preventive measures, biological control measures and cultural practices that too which was very precise. In all categories most of the respondents felt that information content of agri-expert systems was complete and understandable to the users.Based on these results, any expert system with reliable, accurate and retrievable information could be more user-friendly and more interactive to the extension community for effective agricultural decision making.
Effectiveness index of expert system applications in agriculture
New Delhi Publishers, 2016
This research paper focuses on the assessment of the effectiveness index of expert system applications in agriculture with special reference to 'KAU-Fertulator ' and 'e-Crop doctor ', developed by Kerala Agricultural University. A survey was conducted among three targeted segments of Kerala extension professionals with a total of 100 respondents who were actively involved in the field of agriculture. Based on the relevant review of literature and discussion with experts effectiveness index of agri-expert system was developed and standardized using the applications such as quick availability and opportunity of the expert system to programme itself, expert systems ability to exploit a considerable amount of knowledge, reliability, scalability, pedagogy, expert systems ability on preservation and improvement of knowledge and expert systems ability to address the new areas neglected by conventional computing. These applications were ranked based on their mean scores in decreasing order of importance and effectiveness index was calculated to distribute the respondents in different categories. Results showed that the effectiveness index of expert system application in agriculture was generally medium. In order to improve the effectiveness index of agri-expert system applications in agriculture, it is necessary to augment the attributes of expert systems such as accuracy, timeliness, format clarity and relevancy of the information from agri-expert systems. Highlights • Effectiveness index of expert system applications in agriculture is the pioneer study which revealed that effectiveness index of expert system application in agriculture was generally medium.
Advances in Life Sciences, 2016
It has been suggested that 'agri-expert systems' might have a significant role in the future by enabling large number of people so that they can access human experts. It is, therefore, important to understand how potential users interact with these computer systems. This study investigates the level of awareness, frequency and nature of agri-expert system use by the extension professionals in Kerala with respect to Kerala Agricultural University (KAU) expert systems (KAU FERTULATOR and E-crop doctor) and Kissan Kerala expert system. A survey was conducted among three targeted segments of Kerala's extension professionals with a sample of 100 respondents actively involved in the field of agriculture. Results showed that the level of awareness among the respondents on agri-expert system was relatively high, frequency of agri-expert system use by extension professionals was occasional and nature of usefulness of agri-expert system perceived by extension professionals was very useful in case of KAU expert systems and useful in case of Kissan Kerala expert system.In order to improve awareness of extension professionals, necessary training should be given to them. Constant updating of agri-expert systems also increases frequencyand nature of usefulness of agri-expert system use by the extension professionals in Kerala.
Attitude of Extension Professionals Towards Agri-Expert Systems
International Journal of Bio-resource and Stress Management, 2016
It has been suggested that 'agri-expert systems' might have a significant role in the future by enabling large number of people so that they can access human experts. It is, therefore, important to understand how potential users interact with these computer systems. This study investigates the extension professionals' attitude towards the use of Kerala Agricultural University (KAU) expert systems for fertilizer recommendation, pest, disease diagnosis, and management of weeds in crop fields. The study also depicts the factors affecting the attitude of extension professionals. A survey was conducted among three targeted segments of Kerala's extension professionals with a sample of 100 respondents actively involved in the field of agriculture to evaluate questions about the attitude of respondent in using agri-expert systems. It also aims to depict the factors which are affecting the attitudes of extension professionals. Results showed that the extension professionals' attitude towards agri-expert systems was generally moderately favorable and the factors such as Training, Innovative proneness and Information content were positively and significantly related with the attitude towards expert systems among all three categories of respondents. In order to improve the extension professionals' attitude towards expert systems, information content available in the expert system should be up to date and addresses the problems which are location specific and need specific. There is also greater need to enrich extension professionals' knowledge about the innovative applications of expert systems by conducting suitable training programmes in a timely manner for the benefit of farming community and effective agriculture decision making.
Constraints Experienced by Extension Professionals in Using Expert Systems
Advances in Life Sciences, 2016
The paper focuses on theconstraints experienced by extension professionals in using expert systems.The need of expert systems for technical information transfer in agriculture can be identified by recognizing the problems in using the traditional system for technical information transfer. However there are some constraints experienced by extension professionals in using expert systems which needs to pay attention for effective utilization of expert systems by extension professionals' for the benefit of farming community. It is in this context a survey was conducted among three targeted segments of Kerala extension professionals with a total of 100 respondents who were actively involved in the field of agriculture. Based on discussion with scientists, experts in agriculture and also through relevant review of literature, 15 constraints experienced by extension professionals' were identified. These constraints were ranked from most important to least important in five point decreasing order of importance. Results showed that the major constraint faced by three targeted segments of Kerala extension professionals was 'lack of proper training' which was ranked first among 15 constraints. In order to overcome these constraints so as to enhance the capability of extension professionals in utilizing agricultural expert systems proper training should afford for augmenting the usage of expert systems among users. Expert system is a computer program that contains expert knowledge about a particular problem domain, often in the form of 'if-then' rules that is able to solve the problems at a level equivalent to or greater than human expert (Yelapure and Kulkarni, 2012). Expert system can be able to give timely, need specific and location specific information to the farming community through extension professionals. However, extension professional are experiencing numerous constraints in using expert systems which needs to pay attention for enhanced usage of expert systems in agriculture.Soekartawi (2005) identifies some problems in developing countries as being related to infrastructure and internet connection, human resources, policy support from government and pedagogy. He emphasises that human resources is one of crucial factors to diffuse utilizing ICT (Information Communication Technologies) to learners. Alemna and Sam (2006) have alluded to the problems of poor ICT infrastructure development, electricity, illiteracy and overbearing costs, as deterrents to ICT utilization in developing countries.Sing et al. (2009) found the difficulties in browsing the Internet based information resources. It was found that low speed Internet access, erratic power supply and lack of required full text journals are problems with regards to the use of Internet based e-resource.Sudaryanto (2011) stated that even though it is found that there was a growing interest of computer for agriculture development; inconsistency of IT (Information Technology) deployment across regions also creates constraints within an increasingly integrated global industry. As responsiveness and speed of business were critical to the success of e-agriculture, any technical constraints were impediments to the growth of the industry. At the same time, farmers have been somewhat slower to adopt computer and Internet technology. Some of this was related to place. Some was related to age (older individuals adopt computing more slowly) and personality traits that resist spending additional time inside doing record keeping. With a construal to augment the usage of expert systems among extension professionals' for the benefit of farming community and for decision making in various aspects of agriculture, a systematic appraisal of conceivable constraints experiencing by extension professionals towards expert systems was studied.
Perceived motives for using the agri-expert systems by extension professionals
Eco. Env. & Cons, 2017
The problems in agriculture are often multidisciplinary and very complex becauseof affecting complex events. It has been suggested 'agri-expert systems' approaches will succeed with this kind of problems. It is, therefore, important to recogniseperceived motives for using these computer systems in agriculture. This study investigates the perceived motives for using the agri-expert systems by extension professionals with respect to Kerala Agricultural University (KAU) expert systems for fertilizer recommendation, pest, disease diagnosis, management of weeds in crop fields. A survey was conducted among three targeted segments of Kerala extension professionals with a sample of 100 respondents actively involved in the field of agriculture to rankperceived motives for using the agri-expert systems and to depict the agreement among the three targeted segments in rating the perceived motives for using agri-expert systems. Results showed the perceived reasons ranking by extension professionals in using agri-expert systems which revealed that 'saves a lot of time'as first ranked reason followed byease of use, correctness and reliability of advice, credibility of the developer, user interface, credibility of domain expert(s) and price of the systems respectively. Results also revealed that there was partial agreement in the rating/ranking of perceived motives for using agri-expert systems among extension professionals, front line extension personnel and scientists either at 0.05 or 0.10 percent level of significance. Based on these results there is greater need to enrich extension professionals' knowledge about the benefits of agri-expert systems by conducting appropriate training programmes in a timely manner even when experts wisdom is not available for effective decision making.
JOURNAL OF MANAGEMENT, 2018
The development of agriculture plays a prominent role in a nation's economy, more so in the case of developing countries of the world. In India, agriculture is considered the backbone of the economy. Given the diversity of agro-ecological conditions across the country and the wide range of producers (small, and medium, large), the Indian agricultural enterprise is inevitably faced with a great diversity of needs, opportunities and prospects. With information being identified as a crucial component of the agricultural value chain, there is an urgent need to devise strategies which will enable improved access to such information as well as facilitate the exchange of information between stakeholders. Many impact evaluation studies reveal that the public-sector extension services despite using a variety of extension programs have not seen much success because they lack technological integration. Studies show that agricultural productivity is considerably influenced by human capital consisting of agricultural and rural extension programs. Thus there needs to be increased emphasis on involving all the stakeholders such as policy makers, educators, scientists, extension personnel in research, development and technology transfer activities and regular training of educators/researchers/extension personnel in SAUs and officers of the agricultural development departments in the use of ICTs. In this regard there is a need to probe into the factors that influence the current usage pattern of ICT among the educators and scientists involved in extension. This research paper makes an attempt to study the same. This study is concentrated in the Northeastern region (NER) of India as the region reportedly lags behind in technology implementation and adoption by farmers.
Asian Journal of Agricultural Extension, Economics & Sociology, 2018
The present study was conducted during 2016-17 to assess the knowledge of agriculture extension functionaries regarding Information and Communication Technology (ICT) tools. Eighty Agriculture officers and Assistant Agriculture officers were interviewed from 43 Raitha Samparka Kendras in four Southern districts of Karnataka state of India. Data was collected from the agriculture extension functionaries during the bimonthly meetings held in the District Agricultural Training Centres (DATCs) of the respective districts. The collected data was scored, tabulated and analysed using frequency, percentage, standard deviation, chi-square test and multiple regression analysis. The results revealed that three-fourth (75.00%) of the agriculture extension functionaries were having high and medium level of overall knowledge regarding ICT tools. It was also found that 72.80 percent of the variation in the knowledge of agriculture extension functionaries regarding ICT tools was explained by the 14 personal, socio-economic, psychological and communication characteristics of agriculture extension functionaries.
JOURNAL OF EXTENSION EDUCATION, 2020
Several information technology enabled systems (ITES) are available for providing valuable information to agricultural extensionists which in turn would help them to assist famers, and increase crop production. The present study was aimed at assessment of knowledge and extent of use of selected ITES among agricultural extensionists of Kerala. Data were collected from randomly selected 60 computer literate agricultural officers and 60 computer literate agricultural assistants of Kerala State. The study revealed that knowledge of agricultural extensionists on web browsing and agricultural portals was comparatively higher. The knowledge of agricultural expert system and digitized databases was found to be very low. On the other hand the extent of use of all the selected ITES was found low among the agricultural extensionists. This points towards the need of sensitizing agricultural extensionists on the importance and value of ITES.
AN EXPERT SYSTEM APPROACH FOR IMPROVEMENT OF AGRICULTURE DECISION
The idea to present the paper on Expert System (ES) approach to improve agriculture decision which is intended to be used by rural farmers and decision makers. In the world of computer science there are many expert system has been developed for agriculture but this paper particularly discussed the problem facing by former in rural areas in India due to lack of education and awareness of immerging technology. The Expert System in agriculture is a simple and based on agriculture related problem solving models; include Diagnostics model, Prediction model and Form Management model. This expert system will allow former to interact with Expert System (ES) and can get the solution over the defined problem. It uses the stored knowledge of step by step solution over the problem, in database which is the captured expertise of experience people and doctorate people in the field of agriculture through IF-THEN rules and facts, which are used to solve problem by answering question asked by user through interface which will be GUI based Audio, Video and Image based interaction between former and ES. For example, 1) In pest control, which pesticide use to spray by only questioning symptoms of disease. 2) Selection of fertilizer and quantity by describing the health of crop. 3) What irrigation level to be maintained at particular age of crop. Etc.