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

A PhD research by Moriom Akter. This PhD project is part of the RECSA project of Wageningen University and Research and Patuakhali Science & Technology University.

Research introduction

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, brown spot, sheath, and culm blight will become more prevalent. Climate information services (CIS) could potentially be used to forecast and prevent rice diseases.

Research challenges

This study aims at quantifying the impact of climate change on rice disease development and promoting CIS to forecast and effectively manage rice diseases using ICT-Tools in the coastal Patuakhali district. By analyzing farmers’ source and needs of information a virtual information platform will be co-designed to forecast rice diseases in the study area. Farmers will be engaged in the learning process through Farmers Field Schools. They will be provided training to build their capacity towards climate, weather, CIS, rice disease and rice disease management. Participatory exchange workshops will be organized to build bridge between stakeholders and further co-design the virtual information platforms to forecast rice diseases. The overall impact of CIS specially on farmers’ pesticide usages and income will be assessed which will eventually lead to sustainable agricultural development.