Abstract:
Crop pests and diseases are ranked as some of the world’s leading threats to agricultural productivity. The
need to improve adoption of digital solutions prompted a review on the applicability of emerging digital
solutions in large-scale surveillance of crop pest and diseases. This study presents findings on key
requirements for achieving digitized large-scale pest surveillance, fitness for purpose of common
autonomous biosecurity surveillance technologies, and prospects of smartphones as an alternative
surveillance solution. Firstly, the research identified appropriateness of the solution, availability of
supporting infrastructure and level of stakeholder involvement in solution formulation as some of the key
determinants of digital solution adoption. Although most common autonomous biosecurity surveillance
technologies are promising, their adoption in developing nations are limited by operational costs, legal
requirements, skillsets, and operational environments among others. Thirdly, recent advancements in
smartphones and wide spread ownership among farmers provide a unique opportunity for advancing
Mobile Crowd-Sensing solutions in achieving large-scale pest surveillance. Lastly, we recommend
designing an incentive mechanism to motivate farmers’ participation in a surveillance solution.
