A Privacy-Preserving Federated Learning Framework for Paddy Leaf Disease Detection Using an Enhanced Pretrained Novel EfficientNet-Lite4 Model

The correct and prompt detection of leaf diseases in paddy crops remains essential for protecting agricultural output and yield stability and reducing major losses that occur during severe disease outbreaks. The widespread use of conventional centralized machine learning techniques becomes impractical for real-world agricultural applications, as their effectiveness diminishes under three main conditions: data privacy limitations, delayed transmission of information, along with reduced performance accuracy from non-independent and identically distributed (non-IID) data properties across different agro-climatic regions. This research develops a decentralized diagnostic system which combines Federated Learning with an Enhanced Pretrained Novel EfficientNet-Lite4 model designed for paddy leaf disease classification. The Paddy Doctor dataset served as training material for the system which contained 16,225 RGB images that classified 12 disease types alongside healthy categories. The proposed model reached 98.7% classification accuracy and 98.5% precision and 98.6% F1-score while maintaining a final loss of 0.21 after 100 communication rounds. The system underwent field testing which demonstrated its ability to generate accurate diagnostic results in real time in various working conditions. The study demonstrates how privacy preserving AI-based paddy disease management works in practice and recommends local agricultural institutions to build decentralized learning systems. The suggested system will give farmers direct access to field level decision support and facilitate the creation of sustainable digital pest management systems required to ensure food supply.