Amr Talaat, Minister of Communications and Information Technology, and ElSayed ElKosayer, Minister of Agriculture and Land Reclamation, have announced the trial operation of some digital services to improve agriculture in Egypt. This came during a press conference held by the two ministers at the Ministry of Agriculture, in the presence of a number of leaders of the two ministries, to review what has been achieved through joint cooperation, to promote digital transformation in the agricultural sector. The conference witnessed the announcement of the pilot launch of the "Hudhud" smart assistant project for farmers, an Arabic mobile application that relies on artificial intelligence techniques to provide guidance to farmers on several topics in the agriculture process. Minister Talaat stressed that the "Hudhud" project achieves a qualitative development in the agricultural extension system to be instantaneous and accurate, directed to each farmer according to his needs, crops, and pests that may infect crops. When the farmer discovers any type of infection in crops, he can take a photo of the infected plant using his smartphone and send it to Hudhud to identify through artificial intelligence the disease and it will provide the farmer with the necessary instructions to stop infection. Talaat added that such applications will help the country shift towards smart, modern agriculture which represents a major pillar in building a digital Egypt. Both ministers reviewed a set of joint projects in the field of smart agriculture, which includes a project to identify reclaimable lands and best crops in each agricultural season and area using satellite images and artificial intelligence. For his part, Minister ElKosayer said that there is fruitful and serious cooperation between the two ministries, to support digital transformation in the agricultural sector, given that this sector is one of the promising sectors in the country, which receives great attention from the political leadership, pointing out that this cooperation recently resulted in four new projects. He added that the Ministry of Agriculture launched the smart farmer card, where 2 million cards were distributed to farmers. It aims to eliminate administrative corruption, ensure the fair distribution of subsidies to right recipients, and digitalize the agricultural sector. Each card bears the farmer's name, identity information, and agricultural landholding numbers. It will build a vast database for farmers and cultivated land. With regard to the application of Hudhud, ElKosayer said it helps farmers in agricultural practices, from cultivation to harvest, and identifying plant diseases and pests and suggesting the appropriate treatments.
