Smarter targeting of which palms to inspect.

AI-based visual screening for Ganoderma (basal stem rot) — an offline Android app and management dashboard for plantation workers, agronomists and management.

  • Green Routine monitoring
  • Yellow Verify
  • Red Inspect first
GanoAI offline screening
Centre and frond detection

Centre & frond detection

Shorter / irregular fronds flagged

Visual analysis result

Verification required

Palm B-12 · GPS logged

AI that shows your team which palms to inspect first

GanoAI is an agritech solution developed by Tkraf that enables fast and efficient Ganoderma screening through a smartphone app. Its AI model is trained with expert input to support screening accuracy and help plantations identify palms that require further PCR testing in a laboratory. This targeted approach helps save time, optimize testing costs, and support informed decisions on palm health.

Vision

To shape a future where technology empowers every oil palm plantation to stay ahead of Ganoderma, safeguarding productivity and long-term sustainability.

Mission

To equip oil palm plantations with fast, objective, and affordable Ganoderma scanning technology, enabling informed decisions and timely, targeted action to protect palm health.

  • Offline Android app

    Field officers photograph each palm; analysis runs on the phone, no signal needed.

  • Crown-geometry AI

    Computer vision measures frond direction, spacing and crown symmetry.

  • Order triage

    Green / yellow / red priority, with photo and GPS for every palm.

  • Management dashboard

    Maps, review queues and history from block to region level.

Aerial view of an oil palm plantation
By the time the eye can see it, the palm is already lost — and the fungus keeps spreading to neighbours through root contact.

Ganoderma is a silent killer of oil palm

  • USD 500Mestimated yearly losses to basal stem rot for producers in Southeast Asia
  • 60–70%of tissue already infected when the first visible symptoms appear
  • 3–5 yrslife expectancy of a mature palm once infected — a total loss of yield
  • 860,610 haof mature oil palm projected to be wiped out in Malaysia by 2040

Sources: Remote Sensing (MDPI) 2022, 14(5):1239 · Frontiers in Plant Science 2023, 10.3389/fpls.2023.1156869

Millions of palms. Too little expert time

Hypothetical example for a large plantation — to be tailored with partner data.

40,000hectares of plantation
5.7 Moil palms (≈143 per ha)
5agronomists available
1.14 Mpalms per agronomist

≈ 4,560

palms per agronomist, every working day, just to look at each palm once a year (250 working days).

The obstacle is not agronomic expertise.

The number of palms far exceeds the daily capacity for in-depth inspection — so census becomes rushed, sampling becomes random, and early cases slip through.

Today's detection methods each leave a costly gap

Agronomist visual census

Human eyes in the field

The gap

  • Symptoms only visible at 60–70% tissue infection
  • Subjective — results vary inspector to inspector
  • 5 agronomists cannot cover 5.7 M palms
Cost
High labour cost
Accuracy
Late & inconsistent

PCR lab test

Molecular confirmation

The gap

  • Expensive, laborious stem sampling + lab work
  • Days to results; not usable in the field
  • Impossible to run on millions of palms
Cost
Highest cost per palm
Accuracy
Accurate — but per sample only

Satellite / remote sensing

Imagery from above

The gap

  • Coarse resolution, cloud cover, long waits
  • Weak at early stage — 57% test accuracy in a UAV study
  • Confuses disease with nutrient deficiency
Cost
Moderate cost, wide area
Accuracy
Not tree-level reliable

Sources: Frontiers in Plant Science 2023; Remote Sensing (MDPI) 2022, 14(5):1239.

Screen every palm first. Experts make the call

AI results set inspection priority — they do not declare a definitive disease status. Every palm gets a colour, a photo and a GPS point.

  1. Green

    Low indication

    Stays under routine monitoring. Does not mean proven infection-free.

  2. Yellow

    Verification required

    An anomaly, or the AI is not yet certain. Enters the review queue.

  3. Red

    High priority

    Strong visual indication that needs prompt review by an expert.

Field trial experiment: documentation

Ganoderma palms

Fruiting bodies at the stem base
Tagged Palm · Ganoderma Palm
Expert inspects the stem base

Healthy palms

Tagged Palm · 11 Oct · Healthy
Expert verifies the tagged palm

Every palm tagged

Palm ID, sampling date & time and expert status (sakit / tidak sakit) recorded on site.

Blind comparison

Expert assessment is recorded independently, then compared with GanoAI screening.

Positives and controls

Symptomatic palms are tested alongside healthy controls in the same estate.

Tested with experts. Measured with agreed KPIs

  1. Preliminary blind test

    GanoAI vs agronomist assessment on a set of palms.

  2. Follow-up evaluation

    Consistency of results and field workflow readiness.

  3. Cross-plantation validation

    Independent controls + PCR samples + different plantations.

  • Sensitivity

    Share of reference-positive palms flagged yellow or red.

  • Productivity

    Analysable palms per staff-hour, incl. retakes and walking.

  • Missed cases

    False negatives estimated in independently checked green samples.

  • Realistic cost

    Cost per screened palm, equipment readiness, value scenarios.

Let's put it to the test on your plantation.

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