According to forecasts by Olivum – Associação de Olivicultores e Lagares do Sul, it is estimated that, in the next 10 years, Portugal will be the third largest producer of olive oil in the world and the seventh country with the largest area of olive groves. The new InOlive project will develop an innovative system that includes an intelligent robotic trap with a set of sensors, which allows monitoring, autonomously and simultaneously, the olive moth, the olive-fruit fly, the olive anthracnose, and climate data.
“This is an innovative, low-cost decision support solution that allows olive growers to monitor pests and diseases in crops, in real time”, explained Lino Oliveira, researcher at INESC TEC and head of the project. Another advantage of the technology developed is the fact that “it contributes to a more rational and sustainable management of crop operations, namely the reduction in the application of phytopharmaceutical agents”, he added.
In addition to INESC TEC, which will develop the robotic trap and the image annotation and automatic detection components, the project will be developed by Geodouro, the entity responsible for developing the management and monitoring platform; by the Polytechnic Institute of Bragança (IPB), which will collaborate in the definition of phenology and phytosanitary models, as well as in the ranking and taxonomic identification of pests; and by the Association of Producers in Integrated Protection of Trás-os-Montes and Alto Douro (APPITAD), whose main role is to validate the solution in a real environment (Trás-os-Montes region) by carrying out tests throughout the project.
The project is funded by the Portugal 2020 Programme, at a total of €430K.
The INESC TEC researcher mentioned in this news piece is associated with INESC TEC.
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