Banana production in the Phiilippines is expected to improve following the introduction of the Remote Online Surveillance for Banana or Rosanna mobile application.
The developers of Rosanna also said that it could likewise reduce the cost of disease control.
Developed by the University of Southeastern Philippines, the Rosanna app is a mobile agricultural disease surveillance system which is capable of gathering and disseminating disease-related information at a banana farm level.
It allows farm managers and field workers to monitor near real-time disease prevalence in the field.
The development of the app was funded by the Department of Science and Technology under the Collaborative Research and Development to Leverage Philippine Economy or CRADLE Program.
The project was monitored by the Philippine Council for Agriculture, Aquatic and Natural Resources Research and Development of the DoST.
The app focused mainly on the highly destructive Black Leaf Streak and Banana Bunchy Top Disease as well as other common banana diseases affecting the Filipino banana planters.
According to the project team, they hope to improve productivity of the HIJO Resources Corporation by minimizing damage caused by diseases and minimizing the cost of disease control.
The team also hopes to improve collaboration within the banana industry in Region 11.
Disease barometer
HRC now uses the Rosanna disease surveillance system to monitor banana diseases in the field.
Continuity plans have also been discussed with HRC along with necessary protocols for its implementation and expansion to other areas.
System users of the Rosanna app include the administrator, farm supervisor and spotter.
The admin manages and monitors every user account and is capable of making updates in the system.
The farm supervisor, secondly, manages the farm and the spotter.
He or she will have access to the data submitted by the spotter and is capable of providing instructions and recommendations to address the identified diseases.
Lastly, the spotter is the one who submits data using the mobile app.
Monitored by the farm supervisor, the spotter receives notifications in monitoring the farm.
Following the positive development, the project team says the mobile app will have updates to be carried out soon to help improve the banana production in the country.