Wheat Blast Early Warning System (EWS)
Bangladesh
Developed by CIMMYT and rolled out in 2019, Wheat Blast Early Warning System (EWS) is a digital platform that notifies farmers and officials when weather conditions are ideal for the fungus to spread. A new digital early warning system can help farmers and scientists. It integrates mathematical models that, when combined with weather forecasts, can simulate disease growth and risks to provide an advanced warning about potential wheat blast outbreaks. With three years of data already recorded, the system — originally piloted in Brazil, where the wheat blast originated in 1985 — is being rolled out across Bangladesh to deliver real-time disease updates to extension workers and smallholder farmers via SMS and voice message. Data is analyzed for 17 sq km areas. The tool can also quantify projected amount of yield loss due to the disease. Weather info can be pulled from BMD or Dark Sky forecasts.
Digital Solution (DS) Category
Digital Agriculture
Digital Solution Type (sub-category)
Farm advisory services, Pest and disease management, Weather forecasting
Delivery type (format)
Web based platform
SMS services / Voice messaging
Call center services
DS supplier-user category
Business to business
Business to consumers
Type of entity (ICT developer-supplier)
International organization
Name of supplier/developer
International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT)
Primary Users
Farmers , Extension agents
Digital Solution Development Stage
Commercial stage (broad use use locally)
Number of users or subscribers
More than 6,000 extension agents in Bangladesh have already signed up for disease early warnings. Source: https://www.cimmyt.org/news/preventing-and-protecting-against-wheat-blast/
Measurable positive impact(s) by Digital Solution (DS) on target users and/or audience
Digital Solution Geographic scope
All over Bangladesh
Name of Digital village(s), districts, communes where DS is used/deployed
On-line resource links (Web-page links, links to videos, links to reports, etc)
DS Links to FAO, UN and other Development agencies projects, initiatives and programmes