Exploring Opportunities for Using Citizen Science to Expand the Usability of Crop Diagnosis Tools in Uganda" to Discover Food

Exploring Opportunities for Using Citizen Science to Expand the Usability of Crop Diagnosis Tools in Uganda" to Discover Food | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Article Exploring Opportunities for Using Citizen Science to Expand the Usability of Crop Diagnosis Tools in Uganda" to Discover Food Lisette Camen, Rita Kizit, Estefanía Talavera Martínez, Godliver Owomugisha This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-6073099/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract This study examines stakeholder participation in Uganda's cassava disease management systems, focusing on opportunities to enhance engagement through citizen science principles. Using the Agro Diagnosis Tool as a case study, we investigate current limitations in stakeholder participation and explore potential pathways for improvement. The research employed a qualitative approach, conducting semi-structured interviews with farmers, technology developers, and agricultural experts to understand current participation patterns and perspectives on collaborative disease monitoring. Findings reveal significant gaps in stakeholder engagement, despite strong interest from farmers in participating more actively in disease management efforts. While the Agro Diagnosis Tool has improved disease detection capabilities, its implementation follows traditional top-down approaches that limit meaningful stakeholder participation. The study identifies specific opportunities for integrating citizen science principles, particularly in disease mapping and knowledge sharing. Based on these findings, we provide practical recommendations for enhancing stakeholder participation through a collaborative disease monitoring system that combines the Agro Diagnosis Tool's technological capabilities with citizen science approaches. The research suggests that such integration could improve disease surveillance while empowering farmers to be active participants in agricultural research and development. These findings contribute to broader discussions about stakeholder engagement in agricultural technology deployment and offer practical insights for implementing participatory approaches in disease management systems. Food Science & Technology Stakeholder participation citizen science cassava disease management agricultural technology qualitative research Full Text Additional Declarations The authors declare no competing interests. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-6073099","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Research Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":418951502,"identity":"33f0c88f-07c4-4ec1-8637-886bfc86ae37","order_by":0,"name":"Lisette Camen","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"University of Twente, Netherlands","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Lisette","middleName":"","lastName":"Camen","suffix":""},{"id":418952059,"identity":"eb308ced-de37-4422-b2e4-28517cbc973c","order_by":1,"name":"Rita Kizit","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"University of Twente, Netherlands","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Rita","middleName":"","lastName":"Kizit","suffix":""},{"id":418952060,"identity":"f26081c3-6f0e-45ef-bd20-2e89f83b5f91","order_by":2,"name":"Estefanía Talavera Martínez","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"University of Twente, Netherlands","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Estefanía","middleName":"Talavera","lastName":"Martínez","suffix":""},{"id":418952061,"identity":"752b8545-7f88-4123-84c2-dca08990e28d","order_by":3,"name":"Godliver Owomugisha","email":"data:image/png;base64,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","orcid":"","institution":"Busitema University","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Godliver","middleName":"","lastName":"Owomugisha","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2025-02-20 15:08:40","currentVersionCode":1,"declarations":{"humanSubjects":false,"vertebrateSubjects":true,"conflictsOfInterestStatement":false,"humanSubjectEthicalGuidelines":false,"humanSubjectConsent":false,"humanSubjectClinicalTrial":false,"humanSubjectCaseReport":false,"vertebrateSubjectEthicalGuidelines":true},"doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-6073099/v1","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-6073099/v1","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":77186778,"identity":"f6f37644-87eb-4762-93c1-754bfc874747","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-02-26 04:06:28","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":432895,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"ExploringOpportunitiesforUsingCitizenSciencetoExpandtheUsabilityofCropDiagnosisToolsinUganda.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-6073099/v1_covered_4e2167f0-1653-42e1-ba63-847e429ad116.pdf"}],"financialInterests":"The authors declare no competing interests.","formattedTitle":"\u003cp\u003eExploring Opportunities for Using Citizen Science to Expand the Usability of Crop Diagnosis Tools in Uganda\" to Discover Food\u003c/p\u003e","fulltext":[],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":false,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":true,"hideJournal":true,"highlight":"","institution":"Busitema University","isAcceptedByJournal":false,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":true,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":true,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true},"keywords":"Stakeholder participation, citizen science, cassava disease management, agricultural technology, qualitative research","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-6073099/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-6073099/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eThis study examines stakeholder participation in Uganda's cassava disease management systems, focusing on opportunities to enhance engagement through citizen science principles. 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