PhilRice holds second Lakbay Palay 2015 together with AgRiDOC training of trainers

For the second time this year, the bi-annual Lakbay Palay, a field day featuring the latest technologies in rice production, was organized by the Philippine Rice Research Institute (PhilRice) at their Central Experiment Station in Muñoz, Nueva Ecija on 13-16 October 2015. The International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) took part, along with the DA-Agricultural Training Institute (DA-ATI) and various other agricultural seed companies.  Booths were set up in which different ICT tools in rice farming were showcased for hundreds of farmers, agricultural technicians, and extension workers, who came mostly from municipalities of northern and central Luzon.

Jerome Barradas and Lauro Atienza of IRRI’s Training Center served as resource persons for the IRRI Rice Knowledge Bank (RKB) and the Rice Doctor. An audiovisual presentation on the RKB was shown, which featured clips of farmers demonstrating how the RKB and other tools developed by IRRI helped them in their work. Demonstrations on the Rice Doctor were also conducted for farmers and extension workers.

In conjunction with the Lakbay Palay, the AgRiDOC (agricultural development officers of the community) National Training of Trainers (NToT) was also held on the first of the four-day event. Twenty-five participants were trained on using different ICT-based tools used in rice farming, such as the IRRI RKB, the Pinoy RKB, the Rice Doctor, ATI’s e-extension services, PhilRice’s MOET app, IRRI’s Rice Crop Manager, and the farmers’ text centers. At the end of the training session, the participants were given computer tablets to use for agricultural training in the community, courtesy of the Improving Technology Promotion and Delivery (IPaD) project. The IPaD project, jointly led by PhilRice, ATI, and IRRI, aims to improve rice technology promotion and delivery by enhancing the capability of the next generation of extension professionals and other knowledge intermediaries.

The first Lakbay Palay for 2015 was previously held on 14-15 April also at the PhilRice Central Experiment Station.

IRRI Training Center's Lauro Atienza shows Lakbay Palay attendees how the Rice Doctor is used.

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