Agtrinsic has announced that it is introducing its Disease Intelligence Engine in South Asia, with a first focus on putting advanced crop-disease technology within reach of smallholder farmers. The company is working with a team based in the region to develop and market a mobile application shaped by local crops, disease threats, farming practices and languages.

The engine is an artificial-intelligence platform designed to give a continuously updated view of crop-disease risk as conditions change, so that farmers can recognise developing threats earlier, prioritise scouting and make better-informed crop-protection decisions. Agtrinsic contrasts it with traditional forecasting systems that lean on static environmental thresholds, historical patterns or visible symptoms.

"Some of the farmers who can benefit most from earlier disease information have historically had the least access to it," said Scott Plato, the company's Director of Agronomy Innovation and Technology. "Our goal is to change that by making this technology practical, affordable and accessible to the smallholder farmer." The product is not simply being transplanted from large-scale agriculture, he said: "We are working with people in the region to organically build an experience around the needs of local farmers, crops and agricultural communities."

The app is expected to cover locally important crops and diseases and to provide alerts, field-level guidance and practical recommendations. The regional team will handle product development, localisation, field testing, farmer engagement and the commercial launch, and Agtrinsic is exploring collaboration with agricultural retailers, processors, exporters, cooperatives, spray service providers and other organisations that support smallholder communities.

Smallholders, the company notes, feed their families, communities and wider supply chains while facing crop disease with fewer technical, financial and advisory resources than larger farms. "Protecting the productivity of farms is not just a local agricultural issue," said Matt Free, Vice President of Agronomy. "It is directly connected to food availability, rural livelihoods and the resilience of the global food system."

The South Asia launch is part of a wider effort to make the technology, which is the subject of pending US and international patent applications, available across crops, farming systems and geographies. Details of the application, where it will be available and its field programmes are to be announced as development and testing progress. For Bangladesh's smallholders, where crop disease is met with the same shortage of early warning the company describes, it is one to watch.

Source: PrecisionAg