In ACI, a group of analysts started this journey in 2016 with a hope to identify different stages of rice with Synthetic Aperture RADAR (SAR) image called Sentinel-1, starting from its seedling stage to harvest stage. While different pest and diseases spread with different temperature and weather condition, the idea is to develop a model to map this pattern and the places where they are probable to occur. With the right weather forecast, the model creates a vulnerability map for each crop stage. The crop lands of Bangladesh are fragmented, heterogeneous and sometime patternless, making the whole task even more challenging. The lands here are geographically diverse, demographically intense and economically apprehensive. Fortunately, the techniques of remote sensing kept evolving.

1. Esri South Asia GIS Impact Awards
ArcGIS ecosystem to connect farmers of Bangladesh
Category: Environment assessment and impact
October 2018
Sunbeam Rahman
Manager – GIS and Remote Sensing
Advanced Chemical Industries Limited
Dhaka

2. Advanced Chemical Industries Limited (ACI) is a private
conglomerate in Bangladesh, and one of the biggest name in the
agriculture mechanization, farming technology, consumer goods,
pharmaceutical products and about 30 other business names.
Intelligent Decision Support System (IDSS) for farmers is a
collaboration with Netherlands Space Office, Department of
Agriculture Extension Office of Bangladesh Ministry of Agriculture,
and an initiative called Geodata for Agriculture and Water (G4AW).
IDSS promises to reach farmers with near real-time spatial
information through smartphones and connect agriculture
communities over internet.
Direct Intervention
▪ 4,200 Fosholi Farmers Club with 1
Lead Farmer & 24 Members,
▪ 96,768 total farmers
▪ 10% female members
Piloting at
12 Districts, 112 Upazilas

4. Fosholi is a digital platform to empower farmers with advanced information
available free on Google Play Store
Your area is prone to Late Blight.
Call <experts mobile number>
Statistically the yield/ land
in this area increased in the
past 5 years.
The fog in your area may stay
longer than 3 days. Take
necessary caution.
Dear sir, the current stage of
rice in your field need protection
brown Planhopper (BPH)

5. Methods and
technology

6. Kushtia District
Land cover information
using S1, S2 and other
▪ Cover the 1,47,627 skqm of Bangladesh
▪ ~ 60% arable lands and seasonal
agricultural lands
▪ Kappa value – 0.86
Max avg temperature
Min avg temperature
Humidity
Weather information
▪ Automated/ on-demand API call
▪ 1000x1000km grid points for API call
▪ Per-day information
Thematic layers
▪ Suitability maps for rice
▪ Topography, soil salinity, pH,
texture, consistency, flood hazard,
slope, aspect, elevation, water
retention capacity, connectivity and
more

7. Satellite & field info > Rice signature > Rice growth stages
Sentine-1
backscatter /
flyby
Field photos /
week
-25
-20
-15
-10
-5
0
x<1>
Image @ T-30
x<2>
T-24
x<3>
T-18
x<4>
T-12
x<5>
T-6
x<6>
T+0
Rice signature for different
areas
Rice growth stages using iterative
supervised classification
Satellite images with respect
to ground truth info

8. Growth Stages from SAR Images

10. Phase-1
Phase-2
Phase-3
Phase-4
Collection of in-situ
information
Crosschecking
Initiate information for
the users, tweaking and
error handling
Disseminate information
with ArcGIS Enterprise
• Satellite images
• Look-up table
• Field info and
signatures
• Thematic data
• Secondary source
• Weather information
• Growth stage model
• Pest and disease outbreak
model
• Spatial analytics
• Feedback from users
(entrepreneurs, decision
makers, academia and
other)

11. Success stories

12. Mr. Rabiul Islam is getting advice in simplified words
Farmer
Increased Productivity
Reduction of Crop Damage
Increased Profitability
Farmers
Dealers/Retailer

13. Zone 1
Status: Warning
Target Yield: 4 MT/H
Zone 2
Status: Better
Target Yield: 6 MT/H
Mr. Abdur Rashid is getting holistic knowledge of his block
Agriculture Extension Officer of Bangladesh Government

14. Mr. Rafik Sheikh is getting updated knowledge
Retailer from Barisal District
Product Catalog
Pest/Disease Outbreak Alerts
Crop Growth Information
Disasters and Calamities

15. Farmers are getting hands on training

16. Decision support
toolset under
development

17. ▪ Improved productivity 15%
▪ Increased income generation 20%
▪ Reduction of crop damage 30%
Key objective Services
▪ Interactive pest and disease alert The users get automated alert of 5
pest and 6 disease before 3-day period through app notification
▪ Weather and disaster risk alert Users get near real-time weather
alert along with disaster risk alert
▪ Interactive dashboard Interactive maps with information for users
who can collaborate. The users includes the farming community, small-
small business holders, distributers and wholesale network
Beneficiaries
▪ 1 million farmers in 64 Districts
▪ Entrepreneurs, consumers good manufacturers and retailers
▪ Government agencies and decision makers
▪ Academics, students and professionals

18. Questions ?