Filipino Farmers & AEWs benefit on ICTs for Rice Technologies
Information and Communication technologies (ICTs) enhance information flow and facilitate delivery of ICT-based agricultural extension for sustainable development. ICTs for rice technologies that are accessible through the internet and mobile phone benefits farmers and agricultural extension workers as well. In the Philippines, such ICTs for rice technologies accessible through the internet and mobile phones example are the Pinoy Rice Knowledge Bank, with the Palay Check and the Nutrient Manager for Rice Mobile, respectively.
In a Philippine study by Gabrillo and Torres (2022), Filipino farmers considered access and use of rice ICTs make them look trendy, facilitate finding of solutions to their farm problems, enhance their farm skills on rice nutrient management, link their produce to the local buyers, and enable them to increase their crop yield. Agricultural Extension Workers, on the other hand, access to rice ICTs have become part of their daily lives. It facilitate their extension work, serve as a guide in giving advice to farmers, and give them a sense of empowerment. Although both farmers and agricultural extension workers considered the high cost of mobile phone load and weak signal from cellular networks as problems in accessing rice ICTs. Read the full study here.