Rice Crop Manager now available as an Android application

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Los Banos, Laguna - The Department of Agriculture (DA) and International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) launched the working version of the Rice Crop Manager (RCM) Philippines mobile Android application on March 18, 2020. The offline platform can generate and provide personalized recommendations to individual rice farmers on nutrient and crop management, even without an internet connection.

RCM recommendations, if followed by farmers, can increase rice yields on average by 0.4 t/ha/season and provide PhP 5,900/ha/season added net benefit when compared to farmer’s fertilizer practice, based on evaluation trials in farmers’ fields conducted by PhilRice and IRRI from 2013-2018.

Since 2013, RCM has generated two million online recommendations across the Philippines’ 16 regions. Based on the monitoring, evaluation, and learning results of RCM dissemination for the dry season 2016-2017, there was a 27% uptake of RCM recommendation by farmers.

The Android app, which can generate recommendations without an internet connection, is designed in a modular format that allows the user to review and revise inputs, without the need to complete the whole interview. Each module is based on specific steps to derive a recommendation: 1) input farmer information; 2) input farm lot information; 3) set target yield; 4) determine fertilizer rates; 5) determine timing and fertilizer source; and 6) determine additional crop management advice.

“The Department of Agriculture in close collaboration with IRRI is pleased to provide our national RCM friends and partners with the much awaited “offline” version of the Rice Crop Manager (RCM) via the RCM Android App.” said Engr. Roy M. Abaya, Director of the Field Operations Service of DA. “We hope that with the availability of this latest app, we can expand our RCM coverage even more and share the impact for “Masaganang Ani at Mataas na Kita” to our Filipino rice farmers. Mabuhay!”

Rice Crop Manager may be downloaded from the Google Playstore using Android smartphones with OS 4.4 and above. For more information about Rice Crop Manager Philippines, please visit https://phapps.irri.org/ph/ras/.

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