RiceAdvice digital support

Your Digital Guide to Better Harvests

RiceAdvice is an interactive decision support tool that generates guidelines based on farmers' responses to multiple choice questions about farm conditions, soil management, nutrient inputs, and more. It takes about 10 minutes to complete and can be done by extension agents or farmers themselves. The app identifies optimal types, amounts, and application times for inorganic fertilizers, helping farmers maximize their investments. It also provides agronomic modules to set yield objectives within budget constraints and recommends efficient weed control strategies.

This technology is TAAT1 validated.

8•8

Scaling readiness: idea maturity 8/9; level of use 8/9

Project adoption3

Technology integrated in the 2PAU- Côte d’Ivoire, ENSURE- East Africa, and PUPSAN- Mali projects.

Project	Beneficiaries	Budget	Duration	Key figures
2PAU- Côte d’Ivoire Emergency Food Production Programme	1.8 million small farms.	161.96 million	2022–2023	2,279 tons of corn seeds. 3,539 tons of rice seeds. 134 million cassava cuttings.
ENSURE- East Africa Enabling Environments for Sustainable Regional Agriculture Extension	3,000,000 farmers.	13.14 million	2024–2027	149,940 farmer leaders & trained farmers. 9,996 trained. 2 → 3.5 t/ha.
PUPSAN- Mali Emergency Production and Food & Nutrition Security Project	35,274 vulnerable farmers (31.5% women and 20% young people).	7.04 million	2023–2026	1,027.14 tons of certified seed. 2,234 tons of fertilizer.

See project details ›

Adults 18 and over: Positive low

The poor: Positive low

Under 18: Positive high

Women: Positive low

Climate adaptability: Highly adaptable

Farmer climate change readiness: Significant improvement

Problem

Inefficient Nutrient Management: Farmers often struggle with determining the right amount and type of fertilizer to use, which can lead to suboptimal yields and wasted resources.
Weed Infestation: Weeds can significantly reduce crop yields, but effective weed management strategies are not always readily available or known to farmers.
Unclear Yield Targets and Crop Calendars: Farmers may lack specific, field-tailored advice on target yields and crop calendars, leading to inefficient farming practices.
Climatic Risks: Farmers face challenges in adapting their farming practices to cope with climatic risks, such as droughts or floods.
Lack of Offline Resources: In areas with limited internet connectivity, farmers may lack access to crucial agricultural advice and resources.

Solution

Optimal Nutrient Management: The app provides advice for efficient application of mineral fertilizer to optimize production and profits, and reduce waste.
Weed Management: It includes a tool called “RiceAdvice-WeedManager” that provides guidelines for effective weed management.
Target Yield and Crop Calendar: The app generates guidelines for target yield, nutrient management, and crop calendar based on farmers’ answers to multiple choice questions on farm conditions, crop management practices, and market.
Coping with Climatic Risks: The app helps farmers better cope with climatic risks.
Offline Use: Although an active internet connection is required from time to time to synchronize information with the database server, the app can be largely used without any internet connection. This is particularly useful in areas with limited internet connectivity.

Key points to design your program

RiceAdvice is an Android-based decision-support tool that generates personalized agronomic recommendations based on farmers' production conditions. It improves fertilizer management, weed control, and overall farm productivity while supporting more efficient use of agricultural inputs across irrigated, rainfed lowland, and upland rice systems. The technology is well suited for climate-smart agriculture, digital extension, and rice intensification programmes, contributing to SDGs 1 (No Poverty), 2 (Zero Hunger), 8 (Decent Work and Economic Growth), 12 (Responsible Consumption and Production), and 13 (Climate Action). It strengthens digital extension services by bridging the gap in access to personalized agronomic advice for women and smallholder farmers while creating entrepreneurship opportunities for youth digital service providers. To successfully integrate this technology, consider the following key actions :

Establish technical partnerships with AfricaRice, national research institutions, extension services, and digital agriculture partners to support application localization, technical supervision, and capacity building.
Invest in digital infrastructure, including Android smartphones, tablets, internet connectivity, and field-level technical support required for effective deployment.
Strengthen digital advisory services by training youth agripreneurs, extension agents, and lead farmers to deliver personalized recommendations and support farmers in using the application.
Ensure access to fertilizers, herbicides, and other agricultural inputs required to implement the recommendations generated by the application.
Promote technology adoption through on-farm demonstrations, radio programmes, SMS campaigns, and other digital communication activities.
Promote the participation of women and smallholder farmers through improved access to digital advisory services, technical support, and information.
Monitor programme performance through indicators such as technology adoption, advisory service coverage, input-use efficiency, crop productivity, and the participation of women and smallholder farmers.

0.6—1.8 ton per hectar

Average grain yield

IP

Open source / open access

Scaling Readiness describes how complete a technology\’s development is and its ability to be scaled. It produces a score that measures a technology\’s readiness along two axes: the level of maturity of the idea itself, and the level to which the technology has been used so far.

Each axis goes from 0 to 9 where 9 is the “ready-to-scale” status. For each technology profile in the e-catalogs we have documented the scaling readiness status from evidence given by the technology providers. The e-catalogs only showcase technologies for which the scaling readiness score is at least 8 for maturity of the idea and 7 for the level of use.

The graph below represents visually the scaling readiness status for this technology, you can see the label of each level by hovering your mouse cursor on the number.

Scaling readiness score of this technology

Maturity of the idea 8 out of 9

Uncontrolled environment: tested

Level of use 8 out of 9

Used by some intended users, in the real world

Maturity of the idea										Level of use
9
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9

Project	Beneficiaries	Budget	Duration	Key figures
2PAU- Côte d’Ivoire Emergency Food Production Programme	1.8 million small farms.	161.96 million	2022–2023	2,279 tons of corn seeds. 3,539 tons of rice seeds. 134 million cassava cuttings.
ENSURE- East Africa Enabling Environments for Sustainable Regional Agriculture Extension	3,000,000 farmers.	13.14 million	2024–2027	149,940 farmer leaders & trained farmers. 9,996 trained. 2 → 3.5 t/ha.
PUPSAN- Mali Emergency Production and Food & Nutrition Security Project	35,274 vulnerable farmers (31.5% women and 20% young people).	7.04 million	2023–2026	1,027.14 tons of certified seed. 2,234 tons of fertilizer.

Countries with a green colour: Tested & adopted
Countries with a bright green colour: Adopted
Countries with a yellow colour: Tested
Countries with a blue colour: Testing ongoing

Countries where the technology is being tested or has been tested and adopted
Country	Testing ongoing	Tested	Adopted
Benin	–No ongoing testing	Tested	Adopted
Burkina Faso	–No ongoing testing	Tested	Adopted
Côte d’Ivoire	–No ongoing testing	Tested	Adopted
Ghana	–No ongoing testing	Tested	Adopted
Mali	–No ongoing testing	Tested	Adopted
Nigeria	–No ongoing testing	Tested	Adopted
Senegal	–No ongoing testing	Tested	Adopted
Togo	–No ongoing testing	Tested	Adopted

This technology can be used in the colored agro-ecological zones. Any zones shown in white are not suitable for this technology.

Agro-ecological zones where this technology can be used
AEZ	Subtropic - warm	Subtropic - cool	Tropic - warm	Tropic - cool
Arid	–	–	–	–
Semiarid	–	–	–	–
Subhumid	–		–
Humid	–		–

Source: HarvestChoice/IFPRI 2009

The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals that are applicable to this technology.

Goal 1: no poverty

Goal 2: zero hunger

Goal 8: decent work and economic growth

Goal 12: responsible production and consumption

Goal 13: climate action

Access the Application: Download and install the RiceAdvice app from the Google Play Store on your Android smartphone or tablet.
Complete the Questionnaire: Provide information about your farm conditions, practices, planting schedule, available equipment, prevalent weed types, fertilizer availability, and market prices.
Enter Budget and Yield Targets: Input the budget you have for investments and select your desired production level. This helps set yield targets.
Receive Personalized Recommendations: The app will generate tailored recommendations on rice variety, fertilizer plan, and agronomic practices based on the information provided.
Review and Select Preferences: Browse through the recommendations and select the options that best suit your specific circumstances and goals.
Implementation and Monitoring: Apply the recommended practices in your rice cultivation. Monitor the progress and adjust as needed.

Last updated on Jul 3, 2026

Africa Rice Center
Kazuki Saito

Technology from

ProPAS

Commodities

Rice

Sustainable Development Goals Details ›

public.components.sdgs.motre

Subcategory

Advisory and information service

Value chain step

Production

Solution

Soil fertility management Weed control

Tested/adopted in Details ›

Countries with a green colour: Tested & adopted
Countries with a bright green colour: Adopted
Countries with a yellow colour: Tested
Countries with a blue colour: Testing ongoing

Where it can be used Details ›

This technology can be used in the colored agro-ecological zones.

Target groups

Farmers

RiceAdvice digital support

Project adoption3

Inclusion assessment 4

Climate impact 2

Problem

Solution

Key points to design your program

0.6—1.8 ton per hectar

IP

Scaling readiness

Scaling readiness score of this technology

Maturity of the idea 8 out of 9

Level of use 8 out of 9

Project adoption

Tested/adopted in

Where it can be used

Sustainable Development Goals

Goal 1: no poverty

Goal 2: zero hunger

Goal 8: decent work and economic growth

Goal 12: responsible production and consumption

Goal 13: climate action

How to use

Technology from

Commodities

Sustainable Development Goals Details ›

Category

Subcategory

Value chain step

Solution

Tested/adopted in Details ›

Where it can be used Details ›

Target groups