Search Engine for E-Books Containing Questions and Answers About Agriculture

This article presents a search engine application programming interface (API) for e-books structured in questions and answers about agriculture and related topics. It can answer questions made in natural language or with keywords. Its methodology includes the treatment of e-books, parsing with different analyzers, indexing standard files, and exploring search templates using Elasticsearch and the BM25 algorithm. It also involves providing the search engine API through an API platform. All API resources are presented in detail, along with a user interface that uses them for a specific technical assistance and rural extension application. The dataset with treated text extracted from the agricultural books considered in the present work is freely accessible, and the API is available to partners. Based on qualified information, this digital solution is relevant to disseminating technical information, especially to small farmers and extension workers, and contributes to increasing knowledge, productivity, and sustainability in agriculture.