Moyo, a leading digital business consultancy based in South Africa, has partnered with Dell Technologies to introduce an autonomous drone that uses AI to detect potato leaf disease and help improve crop yield and quality. This innovative solution, developed using the Dell AI Factory with NVIDIA and Dell Precision AI-ready workstations, supports more sustainable agriculture in South Africa with advanced crop health monitoring.

Why it matters:

South Africa produces nearly 10% of Africa's potatoes, but potato leaf disease can significantly threaten production. Using AI to enhance agricultural surveillance allows for timely interventions, reducing losses and improving yield quality.  

Moyo works with customers to build AI solutions and strategies that assist them in driving actionable and measurable business outcomes. The drone developed by Moyo employs a Retrieval Augmented Generation (RAG) system, combining high-resolution image capture with AI-based leaf pattern analysis. The neural network is trained to identify early disease signs, such as fungal infections. 

This technology-led approach greatly enhances the precision and depth of disease detection and could also promote sustainable agriculture by reducing the need for chemical interventions and fostering organic (or regenerative) farming practices. 

Using the Dell AI Factory with NVIDIA to transform data into insights and outcomes

AI offers a tremendous tool for helping to solve some of our planet's biggest challenges. To power, model and scale the solution, Moyo used the Dell AI Factory with NVIDIA, which combines Dell and NVIDIA's AI solutions, to integrate AI models and frameworks into its operations.

Dell Precision AI-ready workstations are equipped with high-end Intel Xeon processors, 64GB memory capacity, NVIDIA RTX? 5000 Ada Generation GPUs and NVIDIA AI Enterprise software. Dell Precision workstations tune these components to process large datasets and manage complex algorithms. This data processing and algorithm output is essential for analyzing crop health and growth patterns. 

Underpinned by NVIDIA's high-speed Spectrum-X Ethernet networking fabric and driving model training as an efficient NVIDIA AI Workbench project, Moyo achieved a final accuracy rate of 99.52% within two weeks of deploying the solution.

Perspectives

"For companies using AI, having a reliable partner and high-performance technology is crucial" said Philip Heydenrych, director, Moyo. "Dell Technologies has been a leading player in the AI space, offering the industry's broadest portfolio of solutions designed specifically for AI workloads. This expertise was crucial in creating the drone and AI model and will continue to be as we create other AI-driven solutions that can support South Africa's agriculture sector." 

"By leveraging the potential of AI and cutting-edge technologies, we are collaborating with our customers to foster innovation and drive positive impact for business, people and the planet," said Chris Buchanan, director, Client Solutions, South Africa, Dell Technologies. "With Dell AI Factory with NVIDIA, Moyo now have their own sandbox environment for GenAI experiments and Proof of Concept projects that can quickly turn applications into real world solutions."