The International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) said it has rolled out a Filipino version of an offline smart phone app that enables farmers to identify and manage crop problems in palay production.
IRRI knowledge management and outreach specialist Poornima Shankar said the app, dubbed “Rice Doctor”, is an interactive questionnaire that helps extension workers, farmers, researchers and students in the diagnosis of pests, disease and other problems affecting rice.
The current version of the app can help diagnose any of more than 80 of the most common conditions affecting rice, Shankar added.
“Although Filipinos remain among the most English-proficient in Asia, for many farmers as well as the agricultural extension workers assisting them, a mobile app such as Rice Doctor being available in Filipino presents an easier-to-understand and, thus, a more straightforward knowledge resource,” the IRRI said in a statement.
“Rice Doctor in Filipino is the first localized and translated version of the diagnostic app. Similar efforts are ongoing in India and Bangladesh,” the IRRI added.
The IRRI said it conducted series of workshops and consultations with farmers, extension workers and specialists from the Philippine Rice Research Institute (PhilRice) to increase awareness on the localization of the Rice Doctor app.
“The development of Rice Doctor in Filipino was supported fully under the project Improving Technology Promotion and Delivery through Capability Enhancement of Next-GenRice Extension Professionals and Other Intermediaries (IPaD), a collaboration among IRRI, Department of Agriculture (DA)-PhilRice and (DA)-Agricultural Training Institute,” the IRRI said.
“Last year Project IPaD and the Impact Acceleration Unit also did a study in different parts of the country to assess and improve the usability of Rice Doctor,” it added.
Earlier, the DA launched its very own smartphone application called “Farmhelp”, a 24/7 online assistance desk that would attend to farmers’ needs and complaints, such as those related to managing plant and animal diseases.
Farmhelp also provides other pertinent information to farmers, such as price monitoring of commodities in the market and weather forecasts.
The DA is set to conduct a nationwide information campaign by November to instruct farmers on how to use Farmhelp. The DA also vowed to provide each farmers’ association and cooperative with a “low-cost” smartphone, to help them access Farmhelp.
Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel F. Piñol said apps like Farmhelp would help “revolutionize” the agriculture sector through the utilization of available technologies.