ABSTRACT

 The technological advancement has led to the development of computer system with the ability to learn from experience, handle complex situations, solve different problems, determine what is important, react quickly and correctly to a new situation. However, Expert System as a component of Artificial Intelligence is a computer program that emulates the behaviour of human experts who are solving real-world problems, such as in Education, Business, Medicine, and Agriculture etc., associated with a particular domain of knowledge. Hence, this project work on Agricultural Expert System for diagnosing pests and diseases of rice was carried out to reveal the Expert System's application in Agriculture. Owning to the problems of high crop losses caused by these pests and diseases in rice and also some limitations of the human expert, which result to taking inaccurate diagnosis, this project's proposal was written. The knowledge was acquired from the human expert through interview and interaction, related literatures and from Internet. With the view of achieving the above purpose, the researcher designed various forms of variable inputs using Visual Basic 6.0 version in a plain text. This software system was then tested, documented and confirmed working. However, this system will help the human experts (Farmers) in making quick decision on action they should take in attempt to diagnose the pests and diseases of rice in the field and also improve rice production yield.