Farmer participatory research in agricultural extension programs: A case study of fertilizer management in tropical rice

Issue Date

10-2020

Abstract

Agricultural extension requires close communication with farmers, and researchers must consider farmers' perspectives on crop management. Farmers tend to take into account the canopy appearancewhen they decide on fertilizer application, and this is often neglected in crop management recommendations by researchers. Our objectives were to dissect the growth characteristics that farmers implicitly account for in nutrient management of tropical rice. Farmer participatory trials were conducted in irrigated and rainfed lowlands in the Philippines during the wet seasons of 2014, 2015, and 2016. Each year, 30 participating farmers made decisions on fertilizer management for plots with different seedling ages and planting densities. These treatments greatly changed the canopy appearance, and affected farmer decisions on nitrogen (N) management, particularly in the first year. We found that plant height and leaf greenness were the major determinants of their decisions in irrigatedlowlands. Under rainfed conditions, the risk of drought made farmers focus on tillering rather thanplant elongation and leaf color during early growth stages, and on canopy cover and plant elongation during later stages. Across years and water regimes, farmers applied 78% more N than researchers without generally increasing grain yield. Since crop diagnosis is a key for successful management by farmers, guidelines for efficient nutrient management should include numerical targets for the traits emphasized by farmers. That will help farmers better understand their crops, and the guidelines will be more user-friendly than providing only a fertilizer application prescription.

Source or Periodical Title

Experimental Agriculture

ISSN

0014-4797

Volume

56

Issue

5

Page

710-721

Document Type

Article

Physical Description

graphs; tables

Language

English

Subject

Farmer field school, Nutrient management, Tropical rice

Identifier

DOI:10.1017/S0014479720000265

Digital Copy

yes

En – AGROVOC descriptors

FARMER FIELD SCHOOL; NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT; TROPICAL RICE

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