Development of a decision support system for real-time forewarning of pests and diseases of different crops, for usability in Agro-Advisory Services

Forewarning pests and diseases in real-time is one of the key components in Agromet Advisory Bulletin (AAB) of India Meteorological Department (IMD). In order to facilitate it, a comprehensive knowledge databank on weather-based pests and diseases of crops were collected to develop a decision support system (DSS) comprising of algorithms on thumb rules of pests and diseases prediction of major crops of kharif and rabi seasons. The algorithm was validated with the real-time observation on pests and diseases of five crops (rice, sorghum, chickpea cotton and maize) during rabi 2021-22 and kharif 2022 seasons, grown over 12 District Agromet Units (DAMU) locations across the country. The DSS upon validation, yielded prediction of pest diseases with correctness varying between 33 to 100 percent across the crops and locations. The forecast accuracy was more reliable during rabi season in comparison to kharif season crops/pests/diseases. For effective operationalization of weather based heuristic models and thumb rules, these have to be tested and validated in all the agroclimatic zones of the country.