While millions of people go hungry around the world, 40 per cent of crops are decimated by pests and diseases. But British scientists believe they have found a solution and it comes, in part, from space.
The Pest Risk Information Service (Prise) uses data from satellites and weather stations to predict when disease or pest infestations will hit crops, giving farmers much needed time to prepare.
The project, part funded by the UK Space Agency and UKAid, uses a supercomputer in Oxfordshire called Jasmin to analyse the various data streams and provide weekly pest forecasts.
Already in use in Ghana, Kenya and Zambia, Prise is due to be rolled out in Malawi and Rwanda in early 2019. Scientists hope that the early warning system can increase both yields and incomes for farmers by at least 10 per cent.
“This is cutting edge technology,” Marin Hirschfeld, from the Centre for Agriculture and Bioscience International (CABI), the research not-for-profit which coordinates the programme.
“It builds on previous projects that reacted to pests and disease outbreaks, and turns it on it’s head to become predictive, so farmers can take preventative action to reduce crop losses," he added.
Farmers are currently notified of pest forecasts through an existing network of so-called ‘Plant Doctors’, who receive WhatsApp messages with weekly warnings at a county level during the growing season.
Satellites scanning the Earth provide data on land use and surface temperatures. These data are combined with information from weather stations and then used to predict when the optimum conditions for six pests to thrive are met.
The 9,200-strong plant doctor network was developed through CABI’s Plantwise scheme, which was largely funded by the Department for International Development (DfID).
Since 2011, the scheme has helped over 18 million farmers in 34 countries, by training the plant doctors and providing resources, including an app which they can use to help diagnose the issue and prescribe a solution.
Farmers access the doctors at plant clinics, where they can ask for advice about crop management, or techniques to to tackle diseases and pests.
Those who used the service saw yields and incomes that were 13 per cent higher than their counterparts who did not.
But while plant doctors will continue their work, Prise aims to eventually reduce the need for a middle man by creating an app that farmers can download directly to their phones.
“Agriculture is foundational, and not only by providing food” said Mr Hirschfeld. “When people get more money from their primary source of income, they can send their kids to better schools, or buy better food, or afford better healthcare, and so on.”
Prise is still in it's infancy, with 520 plant doctors receiving alerts and around 2,000 farmers reached so far. But the early signs suggest that it is working, with plant doctors reporting that forecasts were correct in the vast majority of cases.
CABI say that if success continues, the service could one day be available for UK farmers to buy.
"It really is an amazing product, and is a great example of a reverse innovation," said Mr Hirschfeld. "When the Prise product reaches maturity, we will explore how to bring it to UK farmers."
Source - https://www.telegraph.co.uk
