Bangladesh’s agriculture sector faces numerous challenges, from crop diseases to a lack of reliable guidance for farmers. Misdiagnosis and misleading advice can lead to unnecessary expenses and crop losses, putting farmers’ livelihoods at risk.

To address these challenges, Adnan Shah Abir, a final-year Agrotechnology student at Khulna University, has developed ‘Gacher Doctor’, an AI-powered mobile app designed to help farmers identify crop diseases and find suitable solutions.

From field experience to an app

Abir’s academic studies and fieldwork exposed him to various problems in the agriculture sector. He observed how crop diseases could destroy farmers’ hard-earned produce and how misleading marketing practices often led them to waste money and time on ineffective solutions.

Motivated by these experiences, Abir spent more than three months developing the app, with the aim of making agricultural guidance more accessible and reliable for farmers across Bangladesh.

How does it work?

The app allows users to take a photograph of an affected crop and upload it for analysis. Its AI system examines the image to identify potential diseases and provides a report outlining the problem and possible solutions.

Available on the Google Play Store, the app can identify diseases such as late blight, powdery mildew, rust, rice blast and maize smut. According to its developer, the system draws on guidance from the Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE), Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute (BARI), Bangladesh Rice Research Institute (BRRI) and Bangladesh Institute of Nuclear Agriculture (BINA).

The app offers guidance for more than 59 crop varieties and includes several features intended to make farming decisions easier. These include daily weather forecasts, market price information and a fertiliser calculator to help farmers estimate the amount of fertiliser required for their crops.

It also offers Bengali voice access to make the platform easier to use. Abir says the AI-based disease identification system has an accuracy rate of around 90%.

Reaching farmers across Bangladesh

According to Abir, the app has already reached hundreds of users, including farmers in Khulna, Jashore, Satkhira, Bogura, Dinajpur and Rangpur. Rooftop gardeners in Dhaka and Chattogram have also started using it.

He said protecting users’ information is a priority, adding that the app encrypts the information collected from farmers.

The team aims to reach more than six million farmers across the country, putting what Abir describes as a plant doctor in their hands.

What lies ahead?

Abir said the team plans to make the app usable without an internet connection by integrating satellite technology. Future updates are also expected to allow farmers to connect with local Sub-Assistant Agriculture Officers (SAAOs) and consult agricultural scientists through the platform.

The developer hopes to expand the app’s reach with government involvement and contribute to improving access to agricultural advice in Bangladesh.

By bringing crop disease identification, farming guidance and essential agricultural information into a single platform, Gacher Doctor aims to help farmers make more informed decisions and reduce avoidable losses.