RiceAdvice TAAT Rice Compact Launch and Knowledge Sharing Workshop 6 - 7 September 2018 M’be, Bouake Cote d’Ivoire

1. a free app for AndroidTM that helps to improve rice farmers’
yield and income through providing personalized advice on
rice management practices

2. Using RiceAdvice
Step 2: Fill in farmers’ personal
condition
rice growing condition, typical practices, expected
sowing date, fertilizer availability and market price
Step 3: Set yield targets
based on available budget or desired production
level
Step 4: Get a
personalized advice
including a crop calendar,
fertilizer plan, recommended rice
variety and other good
agricultural practices
Step 1: Download RiceAdvice
from Google Play on smartphone or tablet

3. Key feature
•Off-line
•Pre-season recommendation
•Fertilizer choice optimization
•Set yield targets
•Monitoring tool

4. 2017-: Dissemination together with scaling partners
2011-2013: “Nutrient manager” validation in Senegal with IRRI
(Saito et al. 2015)
2013-2014: RiceAdvice developed by AfricaRice
2014- : RiceAdvice validation through Africa-wide Rice Agronomy Task
Force and with scaling partners
2016: RiceAdvice large-scale dissemination in Mali & Nigeria
Ex-ant impact assessment
Assessment of constraints & opportunity for out- & up-scaling
RiceAdvice bio

5. RiceAdvice is available in:
(update in April 2017)

6. Progress towards impact
>1,500 installs
>1,000 service providers
trained

8. Benefit from use of RiceAdvice
It also improve farmers’ knowledge
of good agricultural practices
Yield gains of 0.6 up to 1.8 t/ha Income gains of $100 up to
$250 per ha

9. Impact assessment study in Kano
Treatment Sample size Yield (t/ha)
RiceAdvice with input credit 99 4.3
RiceAdvice without input 280 4.2
Control 322 3.7
Farmers who followed RiceAdvice generally used more urea and less NPK compound fertilizer.
About 80% of the farmers attributed three main advantages to RiceAdvice: increased yield,
increased income and reduced use of fertilizer.
Willingness to pay for service: 4-5 USD/advice.

10. Limited number of extension staff
https://businesstech.co.za/news/mobile/49343/south-africans-spend-more-on-
mobile-report/
Smartphone penetration in SSA
Major challenges for impact
Use of service providers
• Public extension service
• Private value chain actors (millers, input dealers,
seed producers, machinery service, farmer
association)
• Youth
Outscaling models

11. For private sector, potentially outscaling
models combining with:
• Threshing service (started in Kano; during harvesting
time, farmers can pay for service in kind or cash)
• Land preparation service (piloting with HelloTractor in
Jigawa in 2018)
• Seed business
• Fertilizer dealers/local agents in fertilizer company
• Youth in farmers association
• Private extension officer from rice mills (e.g. OLAM)
• Contractual arrangement of other value chain actors

12. Training to service
providers by AfricaRice
and NARIs staff
Service providers
provide with
recommendations using
RiceAdvice to farmers
(at least 100 farmers
per service provider)
Public extension
service can provide
backstopping to service
providers (e.g. youth)
Farmers receive
recommendation and
follow it for getting
high yield and
profitability
Impact pathway
Example:
annual
budget
300K USD
100 service
providers trained
100 service providers give
recommendation to 10,000
farmers
Additional 2,500 tons paddy
produced (assuming 0.5
ha/farmer and 0.5 t/ha yield
increase)
Cost:benefit rate: 1.7 (considering paddy increase only; 200USD/1 ton paddy)

13. Country (site) Partners and their roles
Burkina Faso
(Banzon in Hauts
bassins, Cascades-
Karfiguela, others*)
CARI/Green Innovation Center/FAO: contributes to identification of service providers, organizing
training workshops, and supporting RiceAdvice dissemination by service providers to farmers
INERA: providing technical backstopping for use and dissemination of RiceAdvice
Service providers (public extension, youth): generates RiceAdvice recommendation to farmers
Ghana (Afife &
pong, others*)
Ministry of Agriculture: identification of service providers, organizing training workshops, and
supporting RiceAdvice dissemination by service providers to farmers
CRI/SARI: providing technical backstopping for use and dissemination of RiceAdvice
Service providers (youth, machinery service providers): generates RiceAdvice recommendation to
farmers
Mali (Niono,
others*)
Syngenta foundation/FAO: contributes to identification of service providers, organizing training
workshops, and supporting RiceAdvice dissemination by service providers to farmers
IER & Office du Niger: providing technical backstopping for use and dissemination of RiceAdvice
Service providers (youth, machinery service providers): generates RiceAdvice recommendation to
farmers
Nigeria (Lafia, Kano,
others*)
CARI/Green Innovation Center/FAO: contributes to identification of service providers, organizing
training workshops, and supporting RiceAdvice dissemination by service providers to farmers
ABU/NCRI: training in use of RiceAdvice to service providers
Service providers (input dealer, youth, machinery service providers, seed producer, public
extension): generates RiceAdvice recommendation to farmers
Senegal (St Louis) Syngenta foundation: contributes to identification of service providers, organizing training
workshops, and supporting RiceAdvice dissemination by service providers to farmers
ISRA/SAED: providing technical backstopping for use and dissemination of RiceAdvice
Service providers (youth, machinery service providers): generates RiceAdvice recommendation to
farmers
* Other sites can be included based on demand by partners

14. Thank you very much!
For more info on RiceAdvice, please visit
• RiceAdvice website (https://www.riceadvice.info/en/)
• Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/RiceAdvice/)
• Google play (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.cocapacity.rice)
• Slideshare (https://www.slideshare.net/RiceAdvice/presentations)
Or email to Kazuki Saito (k.saito@cigar.org)