The company has announced a full commercial roll-out in Bangladesh
Bayer has launched GeoPotato, a geodata-driven early warning system for late blight in potatoes, and has entered a full commercial roll-out in Bangladesh. It could potentially reach as many as 1 million smallholder farmers in the coming years.
Devised by Wageningen Plant Research, Terrasphere, mPower, Bayer and governmental institutions, GeoPotato’s cutting-edge technology employs a sophisticated risk assessment algorithm evaluating many factors impacting crop development on the field– including satellite data, weather forecasts, disease cycles and crop biomass growth – to assess key risk factors for late blight development (susceptible host, conducive environment and pathogen presence) on a highly localised basis.
When it predicts a disease outbreak, it sends farmers an early alert via SMS or voicemail, three days before the outbreak is forecasted to occur. It also advises which fungicidal product would be most effective to help growers take action in a fast and efficient manner.
After running trials for the last five seasons, GeoPotato was launched publicly in November 2021. To maximise its impact, project partners have reached out to more than 50,000 farmers in key potato-producing areas. Ultimately, they intend to expand it to all of Bangladesh, as well as parts of India, reaching more than 1 million farmers and making a significant step toward Bayer’s commitment to empower 100 million smallholder farmers by 2030.
