Extension with a higher mission: improving crop productivity in drought-prone rainfed lowlands in the Philippines

Issue Date

7-2018

Abstract

The drought-prone rainfed lowland rice areas in the Philippines are associated with a number of biotic, abiotic, production, social, and economic constraints. Despite the many released rice varieties and technologies in the country adapted to this ecosystem, adoption by farmers remain low, partly due to lack of access to seeds and information. Besides, most rice farmers still prefer the use of varieties intended for irrigated areas. In 2015, the Consortium for Unfavorable Rice Environments (CURE) actively promoted the use of drought-tolerant rice varieties intended primarily for rainfed rice lowlands. The project used the strategy of mobilizing Local Farmer Technicians (LFTs) together with selected seed growers who served as intermediaries to advance dissemination of technologies in the rainfed ecosystem. Targeted farmers were provided with timely access to seeds and information through Lakbay Binhi, Farmers Field School (FFS), Demonstration Trials and Field Days. Within a period of two years, the project made a remarkable progress in enhancing the diffusion of sahod ulan seeds and information for more than 3000 farmers covering 52 municipalities in the Ilocos Region. Farmer-partners got an average yield of 4.21 t/ha which was 1.14 t/ha more from what they normally produce. Furthermore, a total of 1,723 farmer participants were trained and obtained an average of 36.38% gained in knowledge and skills. With the initial results of the project, the farmer-participants hope to enhance crop establishment and intensification in the future through mechanization, thereby enhancing productivity and income.

Source or Periodical Title

Philippine Journal of Crop Science

ISSN

0115-463X

Volume

43

Issue

Supplement no. 1

Page

124

Document Type

Article

College

College of Agriculture and Food Science (CAFS)

Language

English

Subject

Oryza sativa L.; Rice varieties; Technology transfer; Climate change

En – AGROVOC descriptors

ORYZA SATIVA; VARIETIES; PLANT PRODUCTION; PLANT ESTABLISHMENT; TECHNOLOGY; TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER; DIFFUSION OF INFORMATION; DROUGHT; RAINFED FARMING; LOWLAND; PHILIPPINES

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