“This course gave me a lot of learnings. Cassava is something I'm not familiar with, but this training taught me something new about it. The NECPH is a great resource for extension workers, particularly because it has a feature that instantly generates recommendations” acclaimed Ms. Cristy Cadiogan, BSU Instructor and one of the participants of the recently conducted Training on the Nutrient Expert® for Cassava held at the Dam-mu-han Hall, ATI-RTC-CAR, BSU Compd., La Trinidad, Benguet.
The objective of the training was to let the participants be familiarized with the Nutrient expert, and be able to generate site-specific nutrient management recommendations through the Nutrient Expert® Cassava Philippines (NECPH) for their respective farmer-clienteles.
Ms. Vicky May Guinayen, the ATI-RTC-CAR’s Focal Person on Corn and Cassava and the Project Office of the training cited that the Nutrient Expert® for Cassava (Philippines) developed by the Institute of Plant Breeding of UPLB is a decision-support tool designed for desktop computers, tablets, and mobile phones (with some prerequisites) which enables local experts as well as farmers to quickly formulate fertilizer and fertilization recommendations NSIC-registered and some local cassava varieties in the Philippines. Nutrient Expert® for Cassava will help farmers increase both their yield and productivity through cost-efficient fertilizer recommendations accompanied by management strategies in order to attain the yield goal based on the local environment and the current farmer practices in an area. The tool only requires an answered questionnaire with the information about the farmer’s field, the farmer’s management practices, and the cost of production. This information will be inputted in the software to generate a fertilizer recommendation that is unique only to the farmer’s field and locally available fertilizer sources. The tool also presents a simple profit and net analysis comparing costs and benefits between farmer’s current practices and the recommended improved practice.
In addition, Nutrient Expert® for Cassava was designed as a learning tool—providing quick help, instant summary tables, and comparative estimates; plus allowing a great amount of flexibility in navigating through the modules on the software. The guidelines provided by this software are consistent with the concept of 4R Nutrient Stewardship and scientific principles of Site-Specific Nutrient Management (SSNM).
The introduction of the app to AEWs as our field partners would be useful in bridging the gap between technologies and ATI’s clients.
A total of 20 AEWs from cassava-growing areas of the Cordillera were the participants of the said training held on October 25-27, 2023.
