Achievements
Research:
1- A methodology for building expert systems has been developed.
2- Software tools to assist engineers in building knowledge bases, automatic translation of these knowledge bases from English to Arabic, and acquiring knowledge from experts, have been developed
3- Twelve expert systems have been developed for field and horticulture crops: wheat, rice, faba beans, cucumber, tomato, citrus, beans, grapes, strawberry, mango, melon and artichoke.
4- Two expert systems have been developed for animal health: cows and buffaloes, and sheep and goats.
5- The impact on enhancing the performance of extension workers when using the expert system was measured. A tangible enhancement was observed which ranges from 80% to 157% in different expert systems.
6- Experiments were conducted to measure the economic and environmental impact of using expert system in the field. The experiments showed that net production has increased by approximately 25%. The impact on environmental conservation was assessed using two measures: water saving and chemicals usage reduction. It was found that fields managed by expert systems used less water by approximately 35 % and less fertilizers by approximately 16%.
7- Three expert systems have been updated for wheat, citrus, and cucumber.
8- Establishing a Virtual Extension and Research Communication Network in order to strengthen linkages among the research and extension components of the national agricultural knowledge and information system.
Training:
1. Conducting of 64 training courses on usage of Expert Systems for 465 researchers, and engineers in the ARC, extension agents, veterinary doctors and private sector growers in the period from Dec. 1992 to March 2002.
2. Conducting 45 training courses to introduce Expert Systems for 418 researchers and engineers in the ARC, Faculties of Agriculture and Veterinary Medicine during the period from May. 1995 to August 2001
3. Conducting 23 training courses on “Developing Expert Systems” for 175 assistant researches and engineers in the Lab during the period from Oct. 1994 to Nov. 2001.
4. Conducting 42 training courses on “Computer Literacy” for 374 researchers, engineers in the ARC, and young graduates from universities and institutes during the period from Nov. 1994 to June 2002.