I always excelled in science in school and loved reading about scientists and their contributions to humanity. This is how my interest in science evolved as I sought it as an avenue where I could push my intellectual limits and, with a bit of luck, can revolutionize a field.
With such aspirations, I pursued chemistry from one of Bangladesh’s top universities. However, soon I realized how small a potential impact a scientist from Global South can have because of the North-South knowledge divide. So, I didn’t follow a traditional scientific career and instead decided to sink my teeth into a profession where I can impact people’s lives with science.
Agriculture is the type of field that can use science and technology to leave a large transformational effect at the base of society’s pyramid. As a son of a fertilizer factory worker, I grew up in a coastal suburb surrounded by farms and in a house full of plants. This upbringing motivated me to put my efforts toward solving a challenge in crop production.
When I got an opportunity to influence farmer behavior to optimize their use of agrochemicals, I put my heart and mind into it with mPower Social, an ICT4D company*4 formed in Bangladesh. Excessive application of crop protection chemicals increases farmers’ economic loss, causes environmental damage and soil degradation, and threatens food safety. Yet, chemicals are often the only way to ensure food and income security from devastating plant diseases such as late blight. Hence, we developed a solution that provides personalized advice through mobile phones to help farmers take preventive measures for crop protection.
The solution is called GEOPOTATO and has been in operation in Bangladesh since 2018. The system combines satellite and weather data with a crop growth model to estimate the localized risk of potato blight. If the likelihood of a blight outbreak exceeds a threshold, it triggers a message to farmers in advance. This means that farmers will only need to spray fungicides that are compatible with the predicted diseases.
As of 2020, we have provided advisory to over 70,000 farmers in Bangladesh, and its positive impact has been reported by renowned research institutions like Yale University. And with the support of Bayer, we have tested a commercial model in Bangladesh. I am looking forward to scaling GEOPOTATO so it becomes a farmer’s best friend, no mater where they live. That is my dream.
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