Mobile Phones Help Farmers Feed Their Fields

Agriculture extension program in the Philippines will soon deliver fertilizer advice by text message

28 July 2010

Fertilizer is an essential but expensive ingredient to maximize yield. Here, an IRRI technician checks leaf color to effectively manage the nitrogen levels of rice plants.

For farmers looking to get the most out of their fields, fertilizer is an essential but expensive ingredient.

"Fertilizers represent about 20 percent of the input costs in rice production for farmers," says soil scientist Roland Buresh at the International Rice Research Institute. "So it's really quite important."

Getting it just right

Buresh has spent years researching optimal fertilizer conditions. Too little means lower yields and lower profits. Too much wastes money and causes pollution. But because every farmer's field is different, figuring out exactly how much to use is complicated.

What farmers do with rice straw after harvest -- burn it or return it to the field -- affects how much fertilizer to use.

Buresh and his colleagues have come up with a set of key questions that will help farmers make that decision.

"The unique thing about some of these decision tools is really how simple they are," he says. "The questions we're asking are really readily answerable."

Dial 'M' for manure