SESAME is a web portal for generating and disseminating crop management advisories for specific crops at particular growth stages based on weather and climate information at four different timescales, which are:

• 3-day high resolution weather forecast to inform daily decision-making
• 10-day weather forecast (separated into two pentads) for planning week-ahead activities
• Monthly outlook for planning activities that require longer lead time 
• 3-monthly outlook for long-term seasonal planning    

SESAME maps crop sensitivity to a particular weather condition, processes how predicted weather will influence crop growth, and generates crop advisories using machine-learning algorithms.  

The system has capabilities for disseminating bulletins via email, SMS, fax, social media (Facebook), and mobile app, as well as capability for receiving user feedback. The system generates:  

• real-/ near real-time or most recent observation data and weather information for the past decade, month, and season to aid understanding of current and recent historical weather condition;
• daily weather forecast, daily update of the pentads (five-day spells), and monthly and 3-monthly outlooks; information on the normal for the pentad, decade, monthly, and 3-monthly climate;
• crop management advisories, accompanying the forecasts and outlooks.

Customization of SESAME

The prototype of SESAME for Punjab Agriculture Department (PAD), Pakistan was completed by the RIMES Systems Development Team in 2021. The system was enhanced for Myanmar and customized for Nepal to provide seasonal forecast-based advisories. Furthermore, capabilities for meteorological services to include regular seasonal forecast were built into the system, along with a mobile application for improved call center service, my crop, and voice messaging services. 
 

SESAME Plus (SPLUS) DSS

SPLUS, an upgrade to the existing SESAME DSS of RIMES, is a tool for generating and disseminating tailored advisories for key national stakeholders of the agricultural sector.

In collaboration with UKMO, Bangladesh Meteorological Department (BMD), Department of Agriculture Extension (DAE) and Bangladesh Rice Research Institute (BRRI), RIMES developed SPLUS as a part of the Asia Regional Resilience to a Changing Climate (ARRCC) Programme.  

SPLUS enables key stakeholders such as DAE, BRRI, BARI to tailor their advisory services in the north western and south western regions of Bangladesh. The DSS comprises three key modules: weather and climate, crop, and advisory generation and dissemination.