Deep Learning-Based Surveillance System for Coconut Disease and Pest Infestation Identification

The coconut industry which contributes 0.8% to the national GDP is severely affected by diseases and pests. Weligama coconut leaf wilt disease and coconut caterpillar infestation are the most devastating; hence early detection is essential to facilitate control measures. Management strategies must reach approximately 1.1 million coconut growers with a wide range of demographics. This paper reports a smart solution that assists the stakeholders by detecting and classifying the disease, infestation, and deficiency for the sustainable development of the coconut industry. It leads to the early detections and makes stakeholders aware about the dispersions to take necessary control measures to save the coconut lands from the devastation. The results obtained from the proposed method for the identifications of disease, pest, deficiency, and degree of diseased conditions are in the range of 88% - 97% based on the performance evaluations.