Presented by Trang Vu of the International Rice Research Institute on 7 Nov 2023, at the ICTforAg 2023 Breakout Session, Scaling up digital co-creation for sustainable rice and livestock practices. In this session, we shared innovations in the digital ecosystem that better enable farmer-driven decision-making and are inclusive of smallholder farmers. We sought audience perspectives and their vision for further development. We advocated for the use of principles for social inclusion to guide the development of digital resources for scaling climate-informed, agroecological practices. Learn more about GFRAS: https://www.g-fras.org Learn more about the Agroecological TRANSITIONS Program's Inclusive Digital Tools project (ATDT): https://bit.ly/AgLEDxATDT ICTforAg: https://www.ictforag.com/

2. Trang Vu, Yen Bui, Cuong Ong, Katherine Nelson
International Rice Research Institute
New tools to benchmark performance for
improved farming packages for sustainable
rice in Vietnam

3. Improved rice farming practices have been promoted to
• Improve quality of rice
• Reduce agronomical inputs
• Reduce cost and increase profit
• Improve resilience to climate change and mitigate
GHG emissions
• Reduce negative environmental impacts
Setting the scene
Some examples:
• 1 Must-do, 5 Reductions
(1M5R)
• 3 Reductions, 3 Gains (3R3G)
• System of Rice Intensification
(SRI)
• Sustainable Rice Platform
(SRP)
General instructions, local agricultural officials provide specific advisory
based on local context

4. Setting the scene
• Training/technical advisory by field agents/cooperatives remains the most accessible and
trusted sources of information
27%
24%
19%
12%
10%
8%
Methods of receiving technical advisory
Meetings with field agents
Talking with other
farmers/family members
Training courses
Digital means
Documents/printouts
Other
0 50 100 150
Rice variety
Fertiliser management
Water management
Plant protection
Harvest & Post-harvest
Climate change mitigation & adaptation
No. of farmers receiving technical advisory by topics

5. Setting the scene
0% 20% 40% 60% 80%
Report to the agricultural
technicians
Report to the
company/cooperative/buyer
Report to other farmers
No reporting
% of farmers report farming practices
0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%
Verbally during in-person
meetings
Phone calls
Submit documents
Messages
Emails/web-based
systems/mobile apps
Methods of reporting by % of farmers
Reporting of cultivation practice is limited and non-digitized.

6. Working with farmers and field agents
• Improved practices quite widely adopted but
benchmarks vary
• Lack of systematic compilation and use of individual
farmer records
• Most desired features in a digital tool:
• Practice record, comparison and sharing
• Advice on use of agronomical inputs (fertilizer, pesticide,
water, etc.)
• Service sourcing

7. Performance
assessment
tool
SECTOR API
GHG calculation
Mitigation practices
• Agroecological practices
• CC Resilience (water)
• CC Mitigation
Farming practices
Results & feedback
Results &
feedback
Users
Field
info
Digital innovations

8. Data collection
• Practice data is collected by field agents
through interviewing farmers
• Performance assessment is instantly returned
and can be informed to farmers
• Records are kept anonymously for analysis
and improvement of advisory
• Potential to connect to carbon credit projects

9. Seed rate (kg/ha)
N fertilizer (kg/ha)
Dry events (times)
Pesticide application (times)
GHG emissions (tCO2e/ha)
50 200
50 200
0
80
80
>=2
1
0 - 1 >=3
2 - 3
1 4
2.5
Benchmarking performance
• Farmers can see their
performance relatively to
others
• Management bodies/
cooperatives/ companies
can adjust the extent of
improving practices

10. Thank you!