Farmers Receive Mobile Phones To Increase Productivity

The Department of Agriculture-Agricultural Training Institute has developed the Rice Crop Manager, a decision-support tool that provides site-specific crop and nutrient management recommendations.

The crop manager recommendations come in the form of messages via mobile phones that were recently awarded to recipient-farmers.

The Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Training Institute, the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), and SMART Communications, Inc. have collaborated in order to help more rice farmers increase their productivity and net income through the Rice Crop Manager (RCM)—an information and communications technology (ICT)-based decision-support tool that provides site-specific crop and nutrient management recommendations.

The mobile phones include preloaded SIM cards for the recipients-farmers will receive text messages on Rice Crop Manager (RCM) recommendations delivered through the DA’s Farmers’ Contact Center (FCC) operated and managed by Agricultural Training Institute (ATI). (DA)