The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization estimates that almost U.S.$300 billion is lost globally to pests and disease every year, but the solution may lie in an artificial intelligence application you can download to your smartphone.

The International Center for Biosaline Agriculture in Dubai, in collaboration with the University of Barcelona, in 2022 launched an AI application that can help smallholder farmers detect crop disorders.

The application, called Dr. Nabat (the Arabic word for plant), aims to reduce crop loss in Tunisia, Egypt and the UAE. The app can diagnose 18 diseases commonly found in cucumbers, tomatoes and capsicum peppers. The developers plan to roll it out to other countries and eventually include other crops in the Middle East and North Africa such as quinoa.

While the app might solve complicated problems for smallholder farmers, it’s easy to use, the developers say. The farmer aims the Android phone camera at the crop, snaps a photo and instantly receives a diagnosis and recommendation for treatment.

The launch comes after a two-year beta trial in which 414 smallholder farmers and extension specialists fed data into the application.

Tarifa Alzaabi, director general of the International Center for Biosaline Agriculture, says providing this kind of information to smallholder farmers is important to the world’s food security.

“(The farmers) are the backbone of many agricultural economies, yet they often lack access to information about pests and diseases. We have developed this mobile application to help bridge this gap and put knowledge in their hands,” she says.

The World Economic Forum estimates smallholder farmers are responsible for one-third of global food supply.