BAYBAY City, Leyte – With the overwhelming hikes in the prices of fertilizers, purchasing such inputs has rather become a burden to farmers due to added production costs, especially in rice farming.
Thus, the government through the Department of Agriculture and other affiliated agencies has searched for ways in minimizing the inconveniences farmers experience and provide solutions that would still achieve an increase in crop production leading to a higher yield and added income.
One of which is the Rice Crop Manager, a digital agriculture service that provides farmers with information geared toward increasing the productivity and profitability of rice farming through targeted integrated nutrient and crop management. With RCM, wastage of inputs would be minimized as it generates recommendations that provide the optimal needed nutrients a rice plant needs in a given area at a certain growth stage. Thus, farmers won’t have to estimate the amount of fertilizer needed for their rice plants as the system already provides them with the type of fertilizer, amount of fertilizer, and schedule of fertilizer application. These are based on research conducted by International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) and the Philippine Rice Research Institute (PhilRice).
In promoting RCM in most parts of the region, ATI-RTC 8 conducted the Training on RCM Advisory Services which aimed to enhance participants’ capacity to operate, use, and train others on the upgraded RCM Advisory Service. With the new features of RCM, the activity provided the Rice Technicians from around the region basic information from registering farmers in the RCM database to providing them with recommendations based on farmer interviews.
Although RCM is focused on generating site-specific recommendations to farmers, a big load of responsibility is being carried by RCM-Rice technicians. To ensure that rice fields are being provided with the correct recommendations, it is important to verify the size of a farmer’s farm lot. This is needed as this information is useful especially in the provision of seeds and even fertilizers during releases conducted by Agriculture Offices during cropping season. That is why during the training, participants were able to measure farm lots using the GPS technology. The GPX generated will be used as verification and will then be uploaded as information to a farmer’s farm lot - a challenge some participants faced during their initial hands-on workshops.
“I attended the training on RAS last year but online through Zoom that is why I still feel that I needed to learn more. “ said Richelle Codillo from Hernani, Eastern Samar. “The discussion in this training made it more clear to me on how to use RCM especially in the generation of ID. This training is really a big help especially for us who have farmers that are still sticking to the traditional ways of farming.” she added.
On the 4th day of the training, the participants conducted their actual field workshop wherein they met with local rice farmers from Brgy. Liberty, Hilongos, Leyte. There, they conducted a briefing about RCMAS and conducted a one-on-one interview with farmers. They also were able to conduct field measurement of each of the farmer’s farm lot. They too were able to print out farmer IDs to guide farmers about their registration whenever another set of interviews will be conducted in their area. However, no recommendations were provided during the actual hands-on workshop as the rice fields in the area already have standing crops.
Jessa Geroy, a new Rice Technician from Oras, Eastern Samar expressed her experiences. “My experience was very nice, especially as a first-time user of RCM. I learned many things from User Registration to georeferencing. I had the opportunity to conduct an actual field measurement and interview; something I really can apply when I go back to our municipality and register farmers in RCM.” she stated.
Mr. Dalmacio Pajanustan closed the training reminding participants to continue serving farmers in their respective localities despite the many setbacks in the agriculture sector. “With the high prices of fertilizers, it is a challenge for you AEWs how to help farmers in achieving sufficiency. And through this RCM, I believe you will still be able to help them achieve ‘Masaganang Ani at Mataas na Kita’”, encouraged Mr. Pajanustan.
Twenty-three (23) representatives from the different RCM-Enhanced FITS centers around the region participated in the Training on RCM Advisory Services on August 15-19, 2022 at ATI-RTC 8. It was also agreed that 100 recommendations shall be generated per municipality every year as their commitment being RCM-Enhanced FITS Centers in the region. Participants received 7 CPD points after completing the training.
