Partners from Indonesia and the Philippines sharpen SSNM expertise through IRRI masterclass

LAGUNA, Philippines, 7 July 2025 — As digital agriculture tools continue to evolve, strengthening national partners’ scientific and technical capacities is crucial to ensuring their long-term effectiveness beyond the project’s lifespan. To support this goal, the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) organized a Site-Specific Nutrient Management (SSNM) Masterclass from 7 to 11 July 2025 at its headquarters in Los Baños, Philippines.

The SSNM Masterclass aimed to deepen the understanding of the scientific principles of SSNM and how those principles were used in developing the Rice Crop Manager (RCM), a digital decision-support tool that provides site-specific recommendations for nutrient and crop management. SSNM provides the foundation for RCM’s algorithms, enabling it to generate tailored fertilizer advice based on farmers’ rice production practices and field-level data. The training brought together participants from government partner agencies in Indonesia and the Philippines, underscoring IRRI’s commitment to building national capacities for sustainable and science-based nutrient management.

RCM has been widely scaled in both countries. In Indonesia, it is known as Layanan Konsultasi Padi (LKP) , and it is being scaled through the RCM Indonesia Project, funded by the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs (MAFRA) of the Republic of Korea. In the Philippines, the Rice Crop Manager Advisory Service (RCMAS) has been formally transitioned to the Department of Agriculture (DA), with IRRI continuing to support national capacity-building efforts. The masterclass was designed to deepen participants’ understanding of the agronomic principles and calculation methods used in RCM. “Building local capacity remains our central focus,” said Dr. Madonna Casimero, IRRI Senior Scientist for Agronomy. “We want partners to understand not just how to use the tool, but the science behind it.”

Led by Ms. Rowena Castillo, IRRI’s SSNM expert,…