Mobile phone service gives advice to Philippine farmers (Feature)

By Girlie Linao Jan 24, 2011, 4:40 GMT

Bay, Philippines - For the past several years, Pascual Madrid applied the first round of fertilizer on his rice field 20 days after the seedlings were transplanted, a practice he learned from his father.

Last week, he was told he should do it earlier.

'So this cropping season, I'll be applying the fertilizer on the 15th day,' said the 52-year-old farmer from San Antonio village in Bay town in Laguna province, 45 kilometres south of Manila. 'Apparently, it's good to apply the fertilizer early so there will be more grains in my plant.'

Madrid got the recommendation from a free mobile phone service launched Monday by the Department of Agriculture and the International Rice Research Institute to help farmers boost production through correct fertilizer application.

The Nutrient Manager for Rice Mobile also recommended that Madrid use a less expensive type of fertilizer.

'I've got nothing to lose in trying this new thing,' Madrid said. 'I don't think the experts will be giving advice that isn't good.'

With the technology developed by the institute's scientists, Filipino farmers are the first to be able to use their mobile phones to seek advice about the use of fertilizers.

Rowena Castillo, an assistant scientist at the institute and a member of the team that designed the Nutrient Manager, said the service was developed to be able to reach more farmers rapidly.

The institute first developed a computer-based tool that provided fertilizer guidelines to farmers in 2008. It later became available online, but scientists realized that many farmers do not have access to the internet.

'So we thought, why not use mobile phones because there are more people who use mobile phones,' Castillo said. 'Farmers can also call anytime of the day to get the information.'

Farmers call a toll-free number and answer a series of questions to receive a text message with the recommendations. They can choose to receive the instructions in English or any of three major local dialects.

The service is free with the support of the country's two top mobile phone service providers.

The rice institute is developing similar applications for other countries, such as Indonesia, Bangladesh, China, Sri Lanka and Vietnam.

'The Philippines is just the starting point,' Castillo said at the institute's headquarters in Los Banos town.

'We already started developing software for other countries in Asia,' she said.

The service was generally welcomed during field tests, but Castillo said some farmers had difficulty using the mobile phone application and expressed doubts about some of the recommendations.

'The main challenge is how to change the way they manage their farms,' she said. 'They are already used to their old ways.'

Another pitfall for the service is that if wrong data is given to the automated system, it would also generate wrong recommendations.

'That's why we need to educate the farmers, and the Department of Agriculture will be doing that,' Castillo said.

Robert Guevarra, 30, admitted his doubts about the recommendations for his 2.4-hectare rice field.

'I was told I should only be using six to seven sacks of fertilizer per cropping season,' he said. 'We have always been using between 10 and 12 sacks.'

'I'm a bit skeptical,' he said, 'but if this is correct, it would save us money, so I will definitely give it a try.'

While the service is currently limited to giving advice on fertilizer use, the institute plans to add more services to the mobile phone system, Castillo said.

Other services in the pipeline are links to sources of fertilizer and credit for the farmers and an option to send photos of plants or insects for analysis and advice for pest management.

Oscar Panisales is already looking forward to the additional services that could be available to farmers on the mobile phone.

The 45-year-old farmer said the harvest from his single hectare went down to 90 sacks last season from 130 sacks previously because of attacks by black bugs as well as from rats and snails.

'I need advice on how to fight black bugs in the field,' he said. 'It's not yet available on the phone, but I'm hoping the information will be there soon.'

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