How can the Rice Crop Manager reach more farmers?

A study by UPLB, IRRI, and DA-BAR explored alternative dissemination actors to expand the reach of Rice Crop Manager, a web-based application that guides farmers with crop management practices best suited for their rice fields. The project’s key findings were recently featured in a seminar hosted by IRRI’s Sustainable Impact through Rice-based Systems (SIRS) Department.

The Rice Crop Manager’s (RCM) site-specific recommendations have been proven to increase yields, boost profits, and lower production costs. Yet, in the Philippines, only 17% of rice farmers were interviewed and given RCM recommendations by local technicians based on a recent IRRI study.

The challenge lies not in the technology but in how the information reaches the farmers. Agricultural extension workers in local government units (LGUs) struggle with heavy workloads and limited digital resources, requiring support from other on-ground actors to deliver innovations to farmers effectively.

In search of alternative delivery pathways, the team of Dr. Rodmyr F. Datoon of the Agricultural Systems Institute of the College of Agriculture and Food Science (ASI-CAFS), University of the Philippines Los Baños (UPLB), in collaboration with the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), and the Philippine’s Department of Agriculture – Bureau of Agricultural Research (DA-BAR), explored the potential of state universities and colleges (SUCs), fertilizer distributors, and cooperatives as dissemination actors to provide RCM recommendations.

Its findings were presented in the seminar, “Scaling RCM Adoption: Finding Effective Alternative Dissemination Actors through Randomized Control Trials, Lessons from the UPLB-IRRI-DABAR Scale-RCM Project,” led by IRRI’s Sustainable Impact through Rice-based Systems (SIRS) Department.

Better farm decisions through RCM

RCM is a web-based digital tool that helps farmers make better decisions by providing tailored crop management practices best suited for their rice fields. Using a computer or smartphone, extension workers can generate recommendations, such as correct…