AI Alerts, Manual Scouting, and Organic Pest Control on Coffee Farms

Pest and disease management on smallholder coffee farms can’t rely on the blanket spraying approach used in industrial agriculture. The farmers don’t have the budget, the chemicals aren’t available, and broad-spectrum pesticides would destroy the soil microbiology that GAP77™ works to build.

Instead, GAP77™ uses a combination of AI-driven alerts, regular manual scouting, and targeted organic interventions.

Farm scouting

Regular scouting is the backbone of pest management in GAP77™. Trained scouts walk the farm, inspecting trees for early signs of problems:

• Root issues — J-root deformities and anemia (yellowing, stunted growth) are caught early. Trees with severe root problems are uprooted and replaced before they become unproductive drains on farm resources
• Antestia bugs — these damage coffee cherries and reduce both yield and cup quality. Scouts count bugs using a W formation method across 5 representative trees in a field (Mojun), recording numbers per branch. When thresholds are reached, targeted interventions follow
• Coffee Leaf Rust (CLR) — scouts inspect the undersides of leaves for the characteristic rust-coloured spots. Early detection is critical because CLR spreads rapidly in humid conditions
• Termites — scouts use the “trample method”, weighing themselves against the ground around trees to detect soft spots that indicate nests. When found, the nest is trampled open and the queen located. The queen’s pheromones are then used strategically to attract and draw termites away from the field — eliminating the colony without chemical intervention

Scouting isn’t reactive. It’s scheduled, systematic, and recorded digitally for pattern analysis.

AI-powered alerts

GAP77™ integrates AI-driven alerts that notify farmers when conditions favour specific threats. Over 16 million SMS alerts have been sent to date, covering:

• Fungal risk — when humidity and temperature persist in ranges that trigger fungal growth (like CLR), farmers receive alerts to apply organic fungicides like Problad. The actual SMS reads: “Hello. It’s time to look for leaf rust in your coffee farm. If you have it, then call the agronomist for help.”
• Weather-triggered activities — each practice has specific thresholds: lime application triggers on 3 days notice of a dry day before 2–5mm rain. NPK application triggers on a dry day before 2–3mm rain. Mulching triggers on 2 consecutive days above 28°C with low humidity. Sanitary harvest requires 12 hours of no rain during daytime
• Pest and disease stress indicators — satellite stress data combined with leaf wetness and temperature indicators identifies conditions that favour Leaf Rust and Berry Disease before visual symptoms appear

The alerts are timed to coincide with monthly training sessions at the Coffee Washing Station, so farmers understand the context behind each message. An SMS telling a farmer to “apply Problad” is more effective when that farmer attended a training session on fungal management the previous week.

Organic interventions

When intervention is needed, GAP77™ uses organic, targeted approaches:

• Problad — an organic fungicide derived from sweet legumes, applied only when AI alerts indicate genuine fungal risk, not after every rain
• Pyrethrum — a natural pesticide for Antestia bug control, applied only when scout-tracked populations reach harmful thresholds
• Manual collection — for Antestia bugs, scouts physically remove adults and crush eggs during scouting rounds to disrupt the lifecycle
• Pruning and airflow management — reducing canopy density lowers humidity around foliage, making conditions less favourable for CLR and other fungal diseases

None of these are blanket applications. Every intervention is triggered by data — either from scouts on the ground or AI models processing weather and satellite information.

Yield estimation

Scouts also estimate yield by counting branches and flowers on representative sample trees. This data feeds into digital systems for real-time reporting, helping predict harvest volumes and plan logistics at the Coffee Washing Station level.

This combination of human observation and AI-driven analysis is what allows GAP77™ to manage pest and disease across 250,000+ farms without industrial-scale chemical inputs.

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For more on how GAP77™ practices support carbon sequestration, see our methodology. For background on the SMS alert system, see our FAQ on farmer benefits. Related: the full SMS alert system explained and pruning techniques that support disease prevention.