Farmer’s Weekly – 30 August 2019

OnlineFarmer lifestyle

EndgamEbyWilna
Adriaanse(Tafelberg,R300)
DetectiveEllieMcKenna
is holedupina small
plattelandtown,finally
workingthroughherfather’s
murderata roadblock,and
herlatersevereinjuries
whileworkingundercover
inCapeTown’sgangland.
She’srelishingthequiet
life,untilshehearstwo
menarelookingforher
andaskingquestions.
Ellieis pitchforkedback
intounfinishedgangland
business,moreuncertainthan
everbeforewhomshecan
trustandevenwhethershe
cantrustherowninstincts.
A sequeltoAdriaanse’s
Blindside, thoughworking
asa standalonecopthriller,
thisswingsbetweenwarm
camaraderieandlife-or-
deathchoices,withits
unpredictableplotmaking
it a goodbrainteaser.

ThEglovEmakEr

byAnnWeisgarber

(Mantle,R290)

Theharshwinter

of 1888 grips

Junction,a tiny

communityinthe

Utahmountains.

AsDeborahworks

thefrozensmallholding,

shepraysherhusband,

Samuel,whohasspentthree

monthsawaytoearnhard

cash,willreturnsafely.

A horsemanappears,

apparentlyontherunfor

thesinofpractisinghis

religion.Deborahcautiously

pointshimtoa refuge,as

she’sundertakentodo.

Thenextstrangerbrings

totheircommunityeven

moresinisterfears.

Thepatienceandingenuity

Deborahusuallyputsinto

craftingbespokebuckskin

glovesforhercommunity

maybethebestqualities

shecanrelyontohelp

themallsurvivethe

dangersandretribution

thatcouldconfrontthem.

Crisplywritten,

withtheUtahwinter

strikinglyevoked.

CivilisaTions:how

dowElook/ThE

EyEoffaiThbyMary

Beard(Profile,R340)

Beardis a classicsprofessor

fromCambridgeUniversity

whohasa surprisingknackof

takingtheconvolutedknots

outofhersubjectandmaking

it fascinatingina refreshingly

directway.Thisbookis one

ofa seriesaccompanyingthe

2018 BBCseriesCivilisations,

recentlyshownonDStv.

Inonesection,Beard

coverstherealandunreal

waysourearlyancestors

portrayedhumanbeings,

andintheother,howthis

hasbeenreshapedby

differentreligiousfaiths

intheirscriptures.

Clear-sightedandclearly

told,thiswillgiveyou

pauseforthoughtand

plentyoffreshinsights.

• Fa r m e r ’sWe e k l y ’sbook
  reviewer,PatriciaMcCracken,
  is a featuresandinvestigative
  journalist.▪fW

Of gloves, endgames

and civilisations

Tumainiis a newapp
developedbyAfrica’s
Bioversity International
(bioversityinternational.org)
that allows banana farmers to
identify and combat outbreaks of
pests and diseases. The app has
an incredible 90% success rate.
With more than 113 million
tons harvested each year,
bananas are one of the world’s
most important crops. Bananas
are essentially clones where
every plant is almost genetically
identical to the one next to it. This
means they’re affected by pests
and diseases in the same way.
The Tumaini app is based
on recent improvements in
image-recognition technology
and deep learning, notes
newatlas.com. It uses 20000

Dealing with banana pests and diseases

greg miles

uploadedimagesofbanana

diseasesandpeststolearn

howtoidentifyspecificsigns

ofinfectionorinfestation,as

wellaswhichstepstotake

tocountertheproblem.

Asit doesso,theapp

recordsdatafromthe

diagnosticimage,including

itsgeographicallocation,to

growandrefinethedatabase.

EarlydETECTion

Where other crop disease

detection models focus on the

leaves, the Tumaini app can

detect symptoms anywhere

on the crop. It can also work

when image quality is low.

“The overall high accuracy

rates obtained while testing

the beta version of the app

showthatTumainihaswhat

it takestobecomea very

usefulearlydiseaseandpest

detectiontool,”saysBioversity

International’sGuyBlomme.

Comingsoon

Theapphasbeentestedin

Colombia,theDemocratic

RepublicoftheCongo,India,

Benin,China,andUganda.It will

beavailablefordownloadsoon.

ThenameTumaini

means‘hope’,andtheapp’s

developershopetheapp

canstopdiseaseoutbreaks

andprotectthelivelihoodof

small,independentfarmers.

• GregMilesis a livestockfarmer
  andInternetmarketer.Emailhim
  at [email protected].
  Subjectline:Onlinefarmer. ▪fW

Books lifestyle

30 august 2019 farmer’sweekly 57