Potatoes are a potentially lucrative winter crop for farmers in Rangpur, but potatoes are also are highly susceptible to late fungal blight. Farmers combat this risk with the application of prophylactic fungicides, which are very effective when applied before blight appears, and much less so afterwards. GEOPOTATO monitors weather and satellite data and combines that with a crop growth model to generate timely alerts to farmers, telling them to spray fungicide in 1-3 days. The objective of the study was to see whether farmers can utilize these alerts to minimize blight damage, but also whether this added security led to an intensification of farming practices and higher yields.
ARCED Foundation is providing support in terms of carrying out extensive review of literature and project documents. Enumerators for back-checks were hired and trained. A pretested semi-structured questionnaire was developed and used to collect primary data. ARCED also used audio records to preserve interviews. Based on the surveys, the team at ARCED provided survey reports with challenges and limitations regularly.