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 timing, quantities, and types of fertilizers, typically shared as a one-page printout or via a short messaging service (SMS).
During the seminar, Dr. Datoon shared that through RCM, researcher-managed trials increased rice yields by 550 kilograms per hectare, with an additional gross return of PhP 9,600 per hectare. Meanwhile, farmer adopters increased their yields by 840 kilograms per hectare, with an additional gross return of PhP 9,307 per hectare.
Bringing RCM closer to farmers
Through randomized control trials (RCT), researchers compared the performances of LGUs, SUCs, and fertilizer distributors in encouraging RCM adoption across three rice-growing provinces: Iloilo, Oriental Mindoro, and Isabela. While cooperatives were not part of the RCT because they can provide recommendations only to their members, the team also studied their performance compared with the other actors.
Each dissemination actor had different strengths: LGUs had experience, SUCs had technical expertise, fertilizer distributors had regular customer interactions, and cooperatives had strong ties with their members. Each group was assigned 180 farmers per province, with interviews at the start and end of wet and dry cropping seasons.
Results indicated that SUCs, despite their limited resources, proved to be effective disseminators, performing nearly as well as LGUs in guiding farmers. Cooperatives initially struggled in the wet cropping season but showed remarkable improvement in the dry cropping season. Fertilizer distributors, on the other hand, were inconsistent. While some were willing to share RCM recommendations, others eventually hesitated due to potential conflicts with their own business interests.
Among the four actors, SUCs and cooperatives were deemed more cost-effective. “In Iloilo, for instance, a cooperative spent as little as PhP 72 per farmer because they already have an office and don’t need to go to the field. However, their network only extends to their members and not the whole village,” Dr. Datoon highlighted.
The path to wider RCM adoption
The project’s key findings led to Dr. Datoon’s essential point from the initiative: the three groups can serve as alternative dissemination actors if given support in policy and training. While LGUs remain crucial, empowering SUCs with more resources, capacitating cooperatives and input providers, and finding ways to align with the private sector’s interests can motivate them to encourage RCM dissemination.
Dr. Datoon also identified the key factors that can serve as entry points in strengthening RCM adoption, such as education levels, access to water, and timely receipt of RCM SMS recommendations. Economic factors such as high fertilizer prices and concerns over rice market conditions also influence adoption. With RCM’s core design to benefit farmers, Dr. Datoon suggested that simplifying its account registration process can reduce reliance on mediators, making the technology more impactful for rice growers across the Philippines.