120 extension professionals trained to use ICT tools for rice farming

Agricultural extension workers (AEWs) who help in the delivery of research results to farmers were trained to use different knowledge resources in rice farming in a seminar held at the Provincial Capitol of La Union, San Fernando City on 3 November 2015.

IRRI Training Center’s Lauro Atienza gave a presentation on the Rice Knowledge Bank (RKB) and Rice Doctor (RD). RKB is an online source of information on rice farming, from pre-planting to post-production. Rice Doctor is a diagnostic tool on crop problems, pests, and diseases. Both of these tools are available online through www.knowledgebank.irri.org and ricedoctor.irri.org. They also have offline versions that can be downloaded through the Google Play Store.

In the seminar, representatives from the Department of Agriculture and from the Philippine Rice Research Institute (PhilRice) also presented other tools such as the Pinoy Rice Knowledge Bank, MOET App, PhilRice Text Center, and the Rice Crop Manager.

The seminar was attended by around 80 AEWs from different cities and municipalities of the province of La Union. It was organized by graduates of the first batch of the AgriDOC (Agricultural Development Officers of the Community) training given by the IPaD Project.

In addition, a group of 40 farmer technicians and extension workers from the province of Davao were also introduced to the RKB and RD during their visit to IRRI also on 3 November. Jerome Barradas of IRRI’s Training Center led the presentation and discussion.

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