DESIGN AND IMPLEMENTATION OF AN EXPERT SYSTEM FOR THE DIAGNOSIS OF THE DISEASES OF NIFOR’S MANDATE CROP

ABSTRACT

The expert system is a computer system that emulates the decision-making ability of the human expert, which aims to solve complex problems by reasoning knowledge. It is an important branch of Artificial intelligence (AI). One of the challenges faced by farmers in developing countries is the destructive effect of pest disease and pathogens. The ability to diagnose and control these diseases still remains a problem due to the communication gap between farmers and agricultural researchers. This paper tends to bridge this gap by developing an expert system that diagnosis pest disease of NIFOR’s mandate crops. It allows farmers to select disease symptoms from a user friendly interface. The output generated by the expert system diagnoses the disease and suggests preventive measures and control. The expert system develop make use of Rule-Based expert system model. The main source of information from developing the expert system was from Nigeria Institute for Oil palm Research (NIFOR).