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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Sustain. Food Syst.
Sec. Climate-Smart Food Systems
Volume 8 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fsufs.2024.1445795
This article is part of the Research Topic Transforming Food Systems in Latin America and the Caribbean: Increasing Sustainability, Resilience and Adaptation to Climate Change View all 11 articles

Sustainability-Driven Fertilizer Recommender System for Coffee Crops Using Case-Based Reasoning Approach

Provisionally accepted
  • University of Cauca, Popayán, Colombia

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    In recent years, the increased demand for food has prompted farmers to increase production to support economic expansion. However, the excessive use of mineral fertilizers poses a significant threat to the sustainability of food systems. In Colombia, coffee cultivation plays a fundamental role in the economy, thus creating a recognized demand to elevate its production while minimizing its environmental impact sustainably.The study follows the CRISP-DM methodology (Cross-Industry Standard Process for Data Mining) developing of a fertilizer recommender system (FRS) for coffee crops. This process includes business understanding, where the key factors influencing coffee production were identified; data understanding and preparation, where agroclimatic data and expert knowledge were collected and processed; modeling, which involved building a case-based reasoning (CBR) system to recommend fertilizer doses and frequencies, and evaluation, where expert feedback was gathered to assess the system's performance. The CBR system integrates soil, crop, and climate variables to provide tailored recommendations for nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium applications.The results revealed that the FRS was deemed acceptable for application in the region, with expert evaluations rating the recommendations based on their experience and knowledge.Additionally, valuable feedback was provided to facilitate future enhancements to the system. Discussion: Based on expert feedback and system performance, the proposed FRS meets the minimum requirements for deployment in real crops, serving as a valuable tool for small-scale farmers. Future work will expand the case base and refine recommender algorithms to improve accuracy and usability.

    Keywords: crop management, knowledge base farming, Environmental sustainability, Expert System, Smart farming

    Received: 08 Jun 2024; Accepted: 06 Dec 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Leon Chilito, Figueroa Martínez, Casanova Olaya and Corrales Muñoz. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Edinson David Leon Chilito, University of Cauca, Popayán, Colombia

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.