Farmer-Friendly Climate Information Services for Climate-Smart Rice Disease Management in Coastal Bangladesh

Climate change has an impact on agricultural production and plant diseases. With global warming, the severity of plant diseases caused by fungi, bacteria and viruses is predicted to increase specifically rice diseases such as rice blast, sheath blight, and bacterial leaf blight will become more prevalent. Climate information services (CIS) could potentially be used to forecast and prevent rice diseases. The current study investigated how climate variability affects rice yields and disease prevalence in coastal Bangladesh and promoted the use of CIS and ICT tools for disease forecasting and management. For these purposes, farmers’ information sources and needs were analyzed, and a virtual information platform using the DROP app was co-designed to forecast and manage rice diseases in the study area. Farmers were provided training to build their capacity towards climate, weather, CIS, rice disease and rice disease management. The overall impact of CIS, especially on farmers’ pesticide usage and income, was assessed, which eventually led to sustainable agricultural development.