All capabilities
Capability 02 · Crop Protection

See disease
before your
crop does.

Weather data doesn't just tell you the forecast. It tells you whether blight, rust, or pest pressure is building in your field — 24 to 48 hours before visible damage. Act early. Save the crop.

The process

How early disease detection works

Disease doesn't appear from nowhere. It needs specific temperature and humidity conditions to take hold. We monitor those conditions — continuously.

01
Continuous microclimate recording

A solar-powered weather station at your farm edge measures temperature, relative humidity, leaf wetness (derived), wind speed and direction — every 15 minutes, around the clock.

02
Disease model matching

Our platform runs crop-specific epidemiological models (e.g. Blitecast for late blight, BOTCAST for botrytis) against your live readings. When conditions match a disease infection period — risk climbs.

03
Threshold-triggered alert

When cumulative infection units cross the intervention threshold for your crop and growth stage — an alert is fired. Not when disease appears. Before it can spread.

04
Actionable SMS or WhatsApp

Message delivered to any phone — includes disease name, risk level, recommended intervention window, and suggested product type. No app required.

Monitored threats

Disease and pest models pre-loaded for Kenyan crops

We've pre-configured the conditions that matter for the most damaging diseases and pest pressures across Kenya's main farming regions.

Blight
Late Blight — Potato & Tomato

The most destructive disease in Central Kenya highlands. Can wipe out an entire potato crop in 7–10 days under the right conditions.

Temperature 10–25°C
Relative humidity >80% for 4+ hours
Leaf wetness period >6h
Rust
Grey Leaf Spot & Rust — Maize

Common in high-altitude maize belts (Meru, Nyeri, Trans Nzoia). Humidity and dew periods during grain-fill are the primary risk window.

Temperature 20–30°C
Leaf wetness >10h per day
Consecutive humid nights
Pest
Aphid & Thrips — Vegetables & Legumes

Warm, dry conditions with low wind speed drive aphid population explosions. Early pressure often precedes virus transmission — acting fast matters.

Temperature >25°C
Humidity <50%
Wind <2 m/s for extended periods
Why it matters

A preventive spray costs 10× less than a curative one

By the time visible disease symptoms appear, the pathogen has already spread systemically. Curative treatment requires higher doses, more applications, and often fails to prevent yield loss. Early alerts change the economics.

Intervene before infection establishes

Our alert fires at infection period onset — not when lesions appear. That 24–48 hour window is when a single preventive fungicide application stops the spread.

Reduce fungicide spend by 30–40%

Calendar-based spraying wastes product on low-risk days. Data-driven schedules mean you spray only when infection pressure warrants it — fewer applications, same protection.

Protect yield at critical growth stages

Blight during potato tuber bulking or maize grain-fill is catastrophic. Our crop-stage-aware models raise alert sensitivity exactly when disease damage costs most.

Crops & applications

Calibrated for Kenya's highest-risk crops

🥔
Potatoes — early & late blight

Late blight is the single greatest threat to potato farmers in Central Kenya highlands. Our sensor-based alerts are pre-configured with Blitecast thresholds calibrated for highland microclimate conditions.

Blight alert pre-configured
🌽
Maize — Grey leaf spot & rust detection

High-yielding hybrid maize is more susceptible to foliar disease than traditional varieties. Leaf wetness and night-time humidity data give early warning before yield-critical grain-fill stages.

Rust & grey leaf spot
🥬
Vegetables — aphid, thrips & mildew

Greenhouse and open-field vegetable growers face rapid pest build-up. Temperature and humidity thresholds flag risk windows for aphid pressure, powdery mildew and whitefly outbreaks.

Multi-threat monitoring
Protect your crop

Get 48 hours warning before disease strikes

A weather station on your farm edge is all it takes. We configure the disease models for your specific crops and location — you receive alerts on your phone the moment risk appears.

Explore all four capabilities