A navigation system for propriety pesticide use: Design and implementation

We propose the following as a procedure for appropriate pesticide use; (1) creating a pesticide use plan and exercising judgment prior to pesticide use, (2) recording intended pesticide use and its rationale immediately prior to pesticide application. The design and implementation of a system that supports appropriate pesticide use are presented based on this procedure. This paper describes a navigation system for appropriate pesticide use (Nouyaku-Navi), which is composed of a pest control guidance facility, a pesticide use planning facility, a pesticide use plan assessment function, a pesticide use field alert function, and pesticide use recording. With a personal computer, a user of Nouyaku-Navi can readily obtain the latest data necessary for the pest control guideline making, including details of pesticides registered to control a particular pest. They can create a pesticide use plan and have its suitability assessed by the judgment server. Mobile phone access lets this suitability assessment be carried out from the farmer's agrichemical store or out in the field. The pesticide use plan can readily be converted into a historical record of pesticide use once the assessment of pesticide application has been completed. In the pesticide use field alert function, two judgment results, "judgment up to the present date" or "judgment from tomorrow" are displayed based on the both historical pesticide use records and future pesticide use plans. Problems clarified in a 2004 trial of the prototype system with about 450 people have almost been solved in the latest version of the system. The following are the focus of current efforts; (1) the introduction of sequential judgment and planning in the pesticide use planning support facility, (2) the development of the stand alone type system of the site alert and pesticide use recording for mobile phone, (3) the further accumulation of a pesticide a Japanese Article Number (JAN) code in the data base.