About Rice Crop Manager

Rice Crop Manager provides irrigated and rainfed lowland rice farmers in Bangladesh with a crop and nutrient management guideline customized to the needs of an individual farmer. Rice Crop Manager uses a farmer's answers to questions on their rice farming practices to automatically generate a rice crop management guideline aimed at increasing the farmer's net income by an equivalent of US$ 100 per hectare per rice crop.

Rice Crop Manager is designed for use by extension workers, crop advisors, input providers, and agricultural service providers who interview a farmer using a computer or smartphone. After the interview, the collected information is stored on the computer or smartphone until connected to the Internet through a web browser. Collected information is then transmitted via the Internet to the Rice Crop Manager 'model', which calculates and transmits a crop management guideline back to the computer or smartphone. Each guideline provides an actionable and unique recommendation, which matches the location-specific cropping practices and needs of a farmer. The guideline is provided to the farmer as a one-page printout, which can be used to advise them on how to increase net income from rice production.

Rice Crop Manager was developed as an upgrade of Nutrient Manager for Rice, which was a product of research collaboration between the Bangladesh Rice Research Institute (BRRI)and IRRI. The concept and framework for Rice Crop Manager was developed by IRRI. Within Bangladesh, long-standing collaboration of IRRI with BRRI and the expertise of each organization on rice cultivation contributed technical content and knowledge, which made Rice Crop Manager possible.

The nutrient management guideline provided by Rice Crop Manager is based on the principles of site-specific nutrient management (SSNM) as described in the following publication: Fairhurst T, Witt C, Buresh R, Dobermann A (editors). 2007. Rice: a practical guide to nutrient management. Second edition. Los Baños (Philippines): International Rice Research Institute and Singapore: International Plant Nutrition Institute and International Potash Institute. Click here to view the publication.

The following organizations, in addition to BRRI, contributed to the field evaluation and dissemination of Nutrient Manager for Rice.

• Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE)
• Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute (BARI)
• Bangladesh Academy for Rural Development (BARD)
• Rangpur Dinajpur Rural Service (RDRS)
• International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT)

Research contributing to the development of Nutrient Manager for Rice and Rice Crop Manager was made possible through support from the

• Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR) supported Rice-Maize project
• Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC)
• U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) Mission in Bangladesh, through the Feed the Future supported Cereal Systems Initiative for South Asia (CSISA) in Bangladesh
• International Fertilizer Industry Association (IFA)
• International Potash Institute (IPI)
• International Plant Nutrition Institute (IPNI)
• Bangladesh Association of Banks

For additional information, please contact:

Developed by the:
International Rice Research Institute

as a product of research collaboration with Bangladesh Rice Research Institute

Terms and conditions

Rice Crop Manager provides a crop and nutrient management guideline for rice in irrigated and rainfed lowland environments of Bangladesh. The use of this software is subject to the following terms and conditions:

The International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) does not endorse or promote specific agricultural inputs and fertilizers, and it does not guarantee the accuracy of an analysis labeled on commercial agricultural input and fertilizers. The software assumes that the N, P₂O₅, and K₂O analysis labeled on a bag of fertilizer or organic material accurately reflects the content of plant nutrients. Many factors beyond the scope of Rice Crop Manager — such as climate and water availability — affect rice yield. IRRI does not guarantee a targeted rice yield will be attained with the provided crop management guidelines. The content of the software is subject to change without notice.

Limitation of liability

Under no circumstances and under no legal theory, whether tort, contract, or otherwise, shall the Board of Directors of the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) or any of its affiliates, officers, employees, or other representatives be liable to you or any other person for any direct, indirect, special, incidental, or consequential damages of any character including, without limitation, damages for loss of goodwill, work stoppage, computer failure or malfunction, or any and all other commercial damages or losses, specifically including damages to crops and soil resulting from the application of the software, or for any damages or liabilities even if IRRI shall have been informed of the possibility of such damages or liabilities, or for any claim by any other party. This limitation of liability shall apply to liability for death or personal injury except to the extent applicable law prohibits such limitation.

Instructions for using Rice Crop Manager

1. To start, select on a language (Bangla or English). If it is your first time to access the Rice Crop Manager, this will be the first page you see. If not, you can access with the button, located on the bottom left of the page, then click on Language
2. Answer questions for the farmer's field in the order that they appear on the screen. Select an answer from a list of choices by clicking or ticking, or typing the answer into the provided box.
3. Use the scroll bar on the right side of the questionnaire to go back to a previous question.
4. After all questions have been answered, click on the button that will appear on the bottom right of the page. If online, a recommendation page with the crop management guideline will be generated. This guideline is based on the answers to the questions. If offline, the user will be asked to save the collected information. The collected information will be saved as a pending input file. When connected to the internet, click on the button, click on the Pending input files folder, and then select the file to generate the recommendation.
5. The recommendation page typically provides a guideline for an attainable yield level higher than the yield previously attained by the farmer.The yield level is estimated as attainable with good agronomic management practices for the given variety, season, and location.
6. The recommendation page contains a button. Click on the button to save the recommendation. To see the recommendation, click on the button then the Saved farmer guidelines folder.
7. After saving the recommendation, the following buttons appear in the output page:
   1. - for printing the recommendation
   2. - for sharing the recommendation as an e-mail
   3. - for downloading the recommendation as pdf. For smartphones, a pdf reader (Adobe Acrobat, Polaris, or Hancom) must be installed to open the downloaded file.
8. The recommendation page can be printed as follows:
   1. For desktop or laptop computer: Click on the button below the recommendation page.
   2. For smartphone: Connect the phone to a wireless printer. Mobile print app must be installed in the phone for wireless printing. Find the file from the Gallery or File folder and then print.
9. To start developing a new recommendation, click the button and select Start new session

Questionnaire forms for using Rice Crop Manager

Questionnaire forms listing all the questions in Rice Crop Manager can be printed in the desired language or dialect and then used for interviewing farmers at remote locations with no internet access.

The information collected with a questionnaire form can then be entered into Rice Crop Manager to obtain a crop management guideline for the interviewed farmer.

Click on a language below to download questionnaire.

• Bangla
• English

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• Print fertilizer recommendation

• Start new session