A weather-forecast driven early warning system for wheat blast disease: User-centered design, validation, and scaling in Bangladesh and Brazil

We describe the user-centered design (UCD) of a numerical weather-forecast-driven early warning system (EWS) as a climate service for managing wheat blast, a fungal disease capable of causing complete crop yield losses that is strongly dependent on weather conditions. Our mixed-methods process was g...

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Main Authors: Krupnik, Timothy J., Cunha Fernandes, José Mauricio, Vargas, Felipe, Medeiros Del Ponte, Emerson, Hossain, M. Khaled, Kamal, Mustafa, Billah, Mutasim, Md. Harun-Or-Rashid, Hussain, Sk. Ghulam, Pawan Kumar Singh, Roy, Krishna Kanta, Pizolotto, Carlos Augusto, Md. Shah Kamal Khan, Pavan, Willingthon O., Faruq, Golam
Format: Journal Article
Language:Inglés
Published: Elsevier 2025
Subjects:
Online Access:https://hdl.handle.net/10568/175960
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author Krupnik, Timothy J.
Cunha Fernandes, José Mauricio
Vargas, Felipe
Medeiros Del Ponte, Emerson
Hossain, M. Khaled
Kamal, Mustafa
Billah, Mutasim
Md. Harun-Or-Rashid
Hussain, Sk. Ghulam
Pawan Kumar Singh
Roy, Krishna Kanta
Pizolotto, Carlos Augusto
Md. Shah Kamal Khan
Pavan, Willingthon O.
Faruq, Golam
author_browse Billah, Mutasim
Cunha Fernandes, José Mauricio
Faruq, Golam
Hossain, M. Khaled
Hussain, Sk. Ghulam
Kamal, Mustafa
Krupnik, Timothy J.
Md. Harun-Or-Rashid
Md. Shah Kamal Khan
Medeiros Del Ponte, Emerson
Pavan, Willingthon O.
Pawan Kumar Singh
Pizolotto, Carlos Augusto
Roy, Krishna Kanta
Vargas, Felipe
author_facet Krupnik, Timothy J.
Cunha Fernandes, José Mauricio
Vargas, Felipe
Medeiros Del Ponte, Emerson
Hossain, M. Khaled
Kamal, Mustafa
Billah, Mutasim
Md. Harun-Or-Rashid
Hussain, Sk. Ghulam
Pawan Kumar Singh
Roy, Krishna Kanta
Pizolotto, Carlos Augusto
Md. Shah Kamal Khan
Pavan, Willingthon O.
Faruq, Golam
author_sort Krupnik, Timothy J.
collection Repository of Agricultural Research Outputs (CGSpace)
description We describe the user-centered design (UCD) of a numerical weather-forecast-driven early warning system (EWS) as a climate service for managing wheat blast, a fungal disease capable of causing complete crop yield losses that is strongly dependent on weather conditions. Our mixed-methods process was guided by stakeholder input on the design, testing, and refinement of the EWS from agricultural extension organizations, meteorological departments, and farmers’ groups in Bangladesh and Brazil, where concerns about blast disease risks are high. The UCD process led to a wheat blast disease prediction model, server systems, and user-facing enhancements, including an open-source dashboard (https://beattheblastews.net/) that displays historical, real-time, and forecasted weather data, along with geographically explicit disease predictions, to support informed decision-making on wheat blast management. We describe the back- and front-end design of the dashboard, which supports disease risk forecasting, hindcasting, and the dissemination of early warning advisories co-designed with user organizations. We validated the EWS through comparisons with field observations in both countries. Model results generally agreed with disease incidence records, and model hindcasting confirmed alignment with disease outbreak patterns in Bangladesh and Brazil. Collaboration between agricultural research, meteorological and extension organizations in developing and supplying weather forecasts, disease management advisories, and early warning systems—along with presenting hindcast validation results to stakeholders—led to the formal endorsement of the EWS in both countries. This process also enabled the registration and training of over 14,500 extension officers, lead farmers, and farmers' cooperative members who now receive advisories via email, SMS, agro-meteorological bulletins, smartphone applications, WhatsApp and social media messages. These tools support them in interpreting and sharing wheat blast early warnings with farmers to improve disease preparadness and management actions in both countries.
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language Inglés
publishDate 2025
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spelling CGSpace1759602025-10-26T12:56:55Z A weather-forecast driven early warning system for wheat blast disease: User-centered design, validation, and scaling in Bangladesh and Brazil Krupnik, Timothy J. Cunha Fernandes, José Mauricio Vargas, Felipe Medeiros Del Ponte, Emerson Hossain, M. Khaled Kamal, Mustafa Billah, Mutasim Md. Harun-Or-Rashid Hussain, Sk. Ghulam Pawan Kumar Singh Roy, Krishna Kanta Pizolotto, Carlos Augusto Md. Shah Kamal Khan Pavan, Willingthon O. Faruq, Golam decision support systems early warning systems integrated pest management pyricularia oryzae triticum We describe the user-centered design (UCD) of a numerical weather-forecast-driven early warning system (EWS) as a climate service for managing wheat blast, a fungal disease capable of causing complete crop yield losses that is strongly dependent on weather conditions. Our mixed-methods process was guided by stakeholder input on the design, testing, and refinement of the EWS from agricultural extension organizations, meteorological departments, and farmers’ groups in Bangladesh and Brazil, where concerns about blast disease risks are high. The UCD process led to a wheat blast disease prediction model, server systems, and user-facing enhancements, including an open-source dashboard (https://beattheblastews.net/) that displays historical, real-time, and forecasted weather data, along with geographically explicit disease predictions, to support informed decision-making on wheat blast management. We describe the back- and front-end design of the dashboard, which supports disease risk forecasting, hindcasting, and the dissemination of early warning advisories co-designed with user organizations. We validated the EWS through comparisons with field observations in both countries. Model results generally agreed with disease incidence records, and model hindcasting confirmed alignment with disease outbreak patterns in Bangladesh and Brazil. Collaboration between agricultural research, meteorological and extension organizations in developing and supplying weather forecasts, disease management advisories, and early warning systems—along with presenting hindcast validation results to stakeholders—led to the formal endorsement of the EWS in both countries. This process also enabled the registration and training of over 14,500 extension officers, lead farmers, and farmers' cooperative members who now receive advisories via email, SMS, agro-meteorological bulletins, smartphone applications, WhatsApp and social media messages. These tools support them in interpreting and sharing wheat blast early warnings with farmers to improve disease preparadness and management actions in both countries. 2025-08 2025-08-04T15:29:39Z 2025-08-04T15:29:39Z Journal Article https://hdl.handle.net/10568/175960 en Open Access application/pdf Elsevier Krupnik, T. J., Cunha Fernandes, J. M., Vargas, F., Madeiros Del Ponte, E. M., Hossain, M. K., Kamal, M., Billah, M., Harun-Or-Rashid, M., Hussain, S. G., Singh, P. K., Roy, K. K., Pizolotto, C. A., Khan, M. S. K., Pavan, W., & Faruq, G. (2025). A weather-forecast driven early warning system for wheat blast disease: User-centered design, validation, and scaling in Bangladesh and Brazil. Climate Services, 39, 100589. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cliser.2025.100589
spellingShingle decision support systems
early warning systems
integrated pest management
pyricularia oryzae
triticum
Krupnik, Timothy J.
Cunha Fernandes, José Mauricio
Vargas, Felipe
Medeiros Del Ponte, Emerson
Hossain, M. Khaled
Kamal, Mustafa
Billah, Mutasim
Md. Harun-Or-Rashid
Hussain, Sk. Ghulam
Pawan Kumar Singh
Roy, Krishna Kanta
Pizolotto, Carlos Augusto
Md. Shah Kamal Khan
Pavan, Willingthon O.
Faruq, Golam
A weather-forecast driven early warning system for wheat blast disease: User-centered design, validation, and scaling in Bangladesh and Brazil
title A weather-forecast driven early warning system for wheat blast disease: User-centered design, validation, and scaling in Bangladesh and Brazil
title_full A weather-forecast driven early warning system for wheat blast disease: User-centered design, validation, and scaling in Bangladesh and Brazil
title_fullStr A weather-forecast driven early warning system for wheat blast disease: User-centered design, validation, and scaling in Bangladesh and Brazil
title_full_unstemmed A weather-forecast driven early warning system for wheat blast disease: User-centered design, validation, and scaling in Bangladesh and Brazil
title_short A weather-forecast driven early warning system for wheat blast disease: User-centered design, validation, and scaling in Bangladesh and Brazil
title_sort weather forecast driven early warning system for wheat blast disease user centered design validation and scaling in bangladesh and brazil
topic decision support systems
early warning systems
integrated pest management
pyricularia oryzae
triticum
url https://hdl.handle.net/10568/175960
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