Scaling of Maize Fertilizer Recommendations Philippines

The first objective of this project was to test a model for scaling 4Rs in maize through the use of recommendation based from the fertilizer decision support tool, Nutrient Expert-Maize (NE). The second objective was to building the capacity of farmer leaders within smallholder cooperatives to use the NE tool. The project was implemented from October 2016 to December 2017 in the Philippines.

Field validation of NE for Maize in the Philippines, through the regional offices of the Department of Agriculture, has demonstrated that it is an effective tool in providing fertilizer recommendations that help farmers improve maize yields and farming profitability. The NE recommendation is tailored to field-specific conditions and includes prescriptions on the 4Rs of fertilizer application (right source, rate, time, and place). The participating cooperatives have been identified/nominated by the project sponsor, Universal Harvester Inc. (UHI), who is supplying fertilizers to the cooperatives. The project included: (1) training of lead farmers in the cooperatives and the agronomic staff of UHI on the use of NE, and enabling them to develop recommendations for the members of the cooperatives; and (2) monitoring of the impact of the NE recommendations on maize yield, nutrient use, and fertilizer sales.

In 2017, we conducted seven field visits to monitor field trials and discuss project activities; three co-op partner meetings to present field results; three farmer meetings to introduce 4R and NE; and three educational activities that trained 29 co-op staff on the use of NE. We collected 92 fertilizer and yield data from field trials by farmers, presented one poster at a national scientific conference, and provided one project update to the project sponsor. Eight task reports and four quarterly reports were also submitted to the project sponsor. A scaling model has been tested with three smallholder cooperatives. Observations and findings will be compiled in a final project report.