Detecting Hemileia vastatrix using Vision AI as Supporting to Food Security for Smallholder Coffee Commodities

Abstract

The loss of food crops during the COVID-19 pandemic threatens food security in Indonesia as one of the world’s top coffee producers. This affects the insecurity of coffee commodities which is influenced by several factors other than the pandemic such as pests, plant diseases, and extreme weather. Plant diseases, such as leaf rust, are a significant factor in the insecurity problem in coffee commodities. The fungus Hemileia vastatrix B et Br causes leaf rust disease, which is a pest that frequently damages coffee plants. This disease not only interferes with plant growth but also causes a decrease in coffee quality and quantity. This initial research aims to carry out early prevention of these diseases as supporting to food security in smallholder coffee commodities. An AI-based visual detection application is the result of this research. We collected 100 images of coffee leaves from various coffee plants. The image is reshaped to 256 x 256 pixels and randomly trimmed to 224 x 224 pixels to fulfill the size requirements of a standard Deep Learning technique. Each image was classified into two classes by a plant pest and disease specialist. The dataset was divided into training, validation, and testing series with a ratio of 60:20:20 for training procedures. The Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) research method used a variation of the ResNet CNN model with 18 layers. The best model validation was 59%.