Institut Teknologi Bandung

Dr Tania is a product of PT. Neura Cipta Nusantara (Neurafarm). The company is listed as one of tenants in Institute for Innovation and Entrepreneurship Development ITB (LPIK) which engages on precision farming. It was established in August 2017 carrying a mission to modernize the agriculture industry by increasing productivity and efficiency through technology, based on a vision to end world hunger, improve farmer welfare, and make the world a better place.

In order to carry out the mission, Neurafarm is eager to continue making innovation and provide technologies that help farmers get larger yields more efficiently. Neurafarm consists of members Naufalino Fadel Hutomo, Febi Agil Ifdillah, Pebriani Artha, and Lintang Kusuma Pratiwi.

*Photo by: Adi Permana/PR of ITB

In 2050, it is expected that current population will be added by 2 billion people more. However, croplands are getting smaller and number of farmers recedes. The world should produce more food to fulfill growing population needs despite smaller resources.

“According to FAO, about 3000 trillion rupiahs wasted every year due to plant diseases on all over the world. Hence, food security is a crucial issue. That problem occurs because, first, farmers do not know how to treat plant disease, and second, they do not know the right product to treat it,” said Febi, the Co-Founder of Neurafarm, about the background of the startup.

Dr. Tania is a chatbot-based mobile app that identify plant disease using artificial intelligence. “This application uses AI that have seen thousands images of plant diseases. The computer analyze the pattern,” he explained.

The app is also easy to use. User take a picture of sick leaves, send it to Dr. Tania, and the full diagnosis will appear, including symptoms, treatments, and access to treatment products.

“User also can learn further about plant diseases and better agriculture technique from the information included on Dr. Tania’s catalogue,” he added. The app enables direct consultation to experts.

Neurafarm has received several awards for their Dr. Tania, such as 3rd place of Business Plan Competition on 7^th Studentpreneur organized by FEB Universitas Indonesia in early 2018, Gold Prize of World Invention and Technology Expo (WINTEX) 2018 organized by ITB and INNOPA, 1^st place of Swiss Innovation Challenge Asia-Indonesia 2018, and 2^nd place out of 93,200 participants of Startup Istanbul Challenge 2018 in Istanbul, Turkey.

Dr. Tania has represented Indonesia as innovation products on international competitions such as on Microsoft Imagine Cup Asia Pacific 2018 Finals in Malaysia, Swiss Innovation Challenge 2018 in Switzerland, and Asian Entrepreneurs Awards 2018 in Japan.

Currently the application can identify 14 plants and 33 diseases. Addition to the number of plants and diseases will be added in the future. It also will accommodate sell of farmers’ yields because many farmers complained about falling prices. “We will try to make direct distribution from farmers to buyers, but we have to see at the marketing side first,” he added.