01 June 2021 - IRRI and the Bureau of Agricultural and Fisheries Engineering of the Philippine Department of Agriculture (DA BAFE) concluded the project “Laser Land Leveling for Land Use Efficiency in the Philippines” during a presentation of the project’s terminal report in a virtual meeting.
In 1997, IRRI in collaboration with Trimble (then Spectra Precision) introduced Laser Land Leveling (LLL) technology to stabilize rice production and improve efficiency in field operations. Today, LLL is used by thousands of farmers in rice-growing economies to reduce farm inputs and water usage, while improving their yields. LLL saves more than 20% of irrigation water, reduces stagnant water, and helps increase the efficiency of input use like fertilizers and herbicides, thus reducing greenhouse gas (GHG emissions).
IRRI representatives presented the project’s terminal report to DA BAFE. The project implemented multiple trainings attended by more than 2,000 stakeholders, including government officials, researchers, and farmers. Dr. Ariodear C. Rico, Director, DA-BAFE, attended the presentation and thanked IRRI for their work to make the project a success.
Dr. Nguyen Van Hung, who led the project on behalf of IRRI, also thanked DA BAFE for their generous support and expressed IRRI’s willingness to collaborate further and reach more stakeholders. He presented four outputs from the project, namely LLL training manual and e-learning platform, online and offline training and demos, LLL standards, and land leveling digital tools. Dr. Nguyen emphasized the importance of implementing standards on laser land leveling as a guide in evaluating the performance and its economic and environmental benefits.
Meanwhile, RG Guillermo, Associate Manager, IRRI Education introduced IRRI’s LLL course as seen on the IRRI E-learning Management System. The course provides a useful introduction to LLL and its implementation and includes hands-on activities in the field to build the competencies of participants.
Richard Pasco, IT consultant, IRRI, presented a mobile app for supporting LLL booking and searching to help farmers book machinery and look for nearby facilities when they are in need of support. The apps will be launched and turned over to DA BAFE during its eighth anniversary on 28 June.
Going forward, IRRI and DA BAFE will continue to explore avenues for collaboration on and promotion of LLL and other postharvest technologies.
