Noticias

Fertilizer tool used in Climate-Smart Villages wins ‘best innovation technology’ title

A farmer applying fertilizer over his fields. The tool will help in location-specific fertilizer recommendations for individual farmers (Photo: Nirmal Sigtia, IWMI)
Nutrient Expert® offers a 'nutrient smart' approach to fertilizer use, by increasing efficiency and reducing emissions.

A fertilizer decision-support tool, Nutrient Expert® for South Asia, launched in India last July, has been selected as the 'best innovation' in the Information and Communications Technology Solutions category at the Bihar Innovation Forum II, according to a press release from the  International Plant Nutrition Institute (IPNI). The toolkit has been developed by IPNI in collaboration with International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) and validated in close collaboration with National Agricultural Research and Extension Systems (Indian Council of Agriculture Research,  Agriculture Universities, Departments of Agriculture), private sector (seed and fertilizer industry representatives) and farmer organisations.

The tool is being used as part of a ‘nutrient smart’ approach to fertilizer use in CCAFS project of Climate Smart Villages in India to increase efficiency in nutrient use and reduce emissions.

Nearly 90 percent of small-holder farmers do not have access to soil testing facilities and the tool can provide location-specific fertilizer recommendation to individual farmers.

The Bihar Innovation Forum is a one-of-a-kind platform that aims to identify, celebrate and scale-up innovations for the betterment of rural livelihoods in the State.

Learn more about our Climate-Smart Villages  

Climate Smart Villages are sites where communities and researchers work together to select the best possible interventions suited to the local context, that can build farmers' resilience, increase productivity and incomes, while reducing greenhouse gas emissions. The interventions relate to weather, water, carbon, nutrient, energy and knowledge management. The idea is to incorporate climate information services and technologies into existing village development plans with the support of local institutions.

Download the Climate-Smart Village brochure 

View a video about climate-smart villages in South Asia. 

 

Read more... 

Nutrient Expert tool and the launch event story on CIMMYT's blog
Press Release from IPNI

M.L Jat is a Cropping System Agronomist at CIMMYT who works in CCAFS Climate-Smart Villages and Dharini Parthasarathy is a Communications Specialist at CCAFS South Asia