Precision Pest and Disease Management System based on Multidimensional Big Data: AI, drones and early warning tools for maize, onion and tomato farmers in Burkina Faso.
The overall aim is to increase food production in Burkina Faso through better precision pest and disease management, with tools built for farmers and the extension officers who advise them.
Build open online datasets of tomato, onion and maize pests and diseases, with management solutions.
Develop a mobile app for pest and disease management for farmers and extension officers.
Develop a web-based early warning system to monitor pest and disease outbreaks.
Train farmers and extension officers to use the mobile and early warning tools.
of Burkina Faso's active population works in agriculture, yet the country has some of the world's lowest yields per hectare.
Pests and diseases are a major part of the problem in maize, onion and tomato. Outbreaks are unpredictable and uneven across a field, so watching for them by hand is slow and unreliable. Many farmers relied on traditional knowledge, extension officers lacked tools, and newcomers like the fall armyworm put whole farms at risk.
Phones had reached rural areas, but digital tools were barely used for crop protection. The project documents point to three obstacles:
Two field data campaigns, in the 2022 rainy season and across the 2023 dry and rainy seasons, fed everything that followed.
Extension officers photograph and log pests and diseases with the ODK app.
Multispectral drones survey 200+ farms, three teams at once.
Free climate and environmental data is linked to outbreak locations.
Labelled images train deep-learning models for diagnosis.
PlanteSaine and the early warning system go live in July 2024.
13 people trained in drone piloting
Two field data campaigns across 15 communes
First PlanteSaine version tested with extension officers
Pilot early warning system completed
Public launch and three community training workshops
Ministry trains extension officers nationwide on PlanteSaine
Photograph an affected plant and the app's AI identifies the pest or disease and recommends how to control it. Works offline once installed.
Learn more
A web map, in French and English, showing when conditions favour fall armyworm in maize, caterpillars in onion and bacterial wilt in tomato.
Explore the system
Watch the project in action.
Maize, onion and tomato are high-value crops in Burkina Faso where pests and diseases regularly cut productivity.
“We at the ministry commit to promoting widespread adoption of the solutions to help farmers and extension officers manage pests and diseases.”
The bank RCPB has adopted the app for farmers receiving agricultural loans. The project ended before a full growing season could be assessed, so effects on crop yields have not yet been measured.
Led the administrative and scientific work and keeps maintaining the applications.
Led logistics, reached farmers through its extension officers and helped secure drone permits.
A Burkina Faso start-up that led the drone mapping component.
Researchers and professionals named in the project's publications and poster. The Project Lead comes first, then the rest of the team alphabetically by surname.
Project Lead
WASCAL Competence Centre, Ouagadougou
Co-author of all four project publications and the project poster
WASCAL, Ouagadougou; University of Energy and Natural Resources, Sunyani, Ghana
Co-author: TOM2024 (2025), PEWS (2025), Fall armyworm study (2025)
WASCAL Competence Centre, Ouagadougou; University of Energy and Natural Resources, Sunyani, Ghana
Co-author of all four project publications and the project poster
Co-author: Project poster
WASCAL, Ouagadougou
Co-author: TOM2024 (2025), PEWS (2025), Fall armyworm study (2025)
Afrique Geosciences, Ouagadougou
Co-author: PlanteSaine (2024), TOM2024 (2025), PEWS (2025), Project poster
WASCAL Competence Centre, Ouagadougou
Co-author: PlanteSaine (2024), TOM2024 (2025), PEWS (2025), Project poster
WASCAL, Ouagadougou
Co-author: TOM2024 (2025), PEWS (2025), Fall armyworm study (2025)
Research Director, WASCAL Competence Centre, during the project
WASCAL Competence Centre, Ouagadougou
Co-author: PlanteSaine (2024), TOM2024 (2025), PEWS (2025), Fall armyworm study (2025), Project poster
WASCAL Competence Centre, Ouagadougou
Co-author: PlanteSaine (2024), TOM2024 (2025), PEWS (2025), Fall armyworm study (2025), Project poster
WASCAL, Ouagadougou
Co-author: TOM2024 (2025), PEWS (2025), Fall armyworm study (2025)
Directorate of Plant Protection and Packaging, Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Resources and Fisheries, Ouagadougou; Nazi Boni University, Bobo-Dioulasso
Co-author of all four project publications and the project poster
Nazi Boni University, Bobo-Dioulasso
Co-author: PlanteSaine (2024), TOM2024 (2025), PEWS (2025), Fall armyworm study (2025), Project poster
Université Joseph KI-ZERBO, Ouagadougou
Co-author: Fall armyworm study (2025)
Université Joseph KI-ZERBO, Ouagadougou; Université Nazi Boni, Bobo-Dioulasso
Co-author: TOM2024 (2025), PEWS (2025), Fall armyworm study (2025)
Co-author: Project poster
Co-author: TOM2024 (2025)
Their papers, brochures, posters and videos are collected under Knowledge.
