Guide for soil id'ing comes to cellphones

When an agricultural technician is out in the field, without a library or laboratory in sight, how does he answer the farmers' question: “What type of soil does my farm have?”

Gone will be the days when technicians have to get soil samples and bring it first to their offices or laboratory and return to an impatient  farmer a few days later to bring the news.

With communication technology, soil identification can now be made anytime and anywhere, just by using mobile phones.

According to Dr. Rodrigo Badayos, director of the Agricultural Systems Cluster of the UPLB College of Agriculture, they have recently converted a picture guidebook, available in the past in printed and compact-disc form, into a program which can be viewed just by using a cellphone.

The guidebook is a product of Dr. Badayos project on “Simplification of the Philippine Soil Series Identification for Rice and Corn Cultivars ” funded by the Philippine Rice Research Institute. Dr. Badayos said that the guidebook was programmed for cellphones by Prof. Moises Dorado of the College of Engineering and Agro-industrial Technology.

The first version of the cellphone-based guidebook, covering topics on how to identify soil types, has already been released and introduced to prospective beneficiaries in Isabela mid last year.

According to Dr. Badayos, the users were excited to bring their “cellphone-powered soil identification guide” into the field. Although some relayed that bigger pictures of the soil series are preferred, the technology was adjudged convenient, handy and most important of all, usable.

The second version of the cellphone-based guidebook is now being developed. According to Prof. Dorado, they are now putting more information, such as soil descriptions, into the program. He shared that they are now doing several tests to ensure the program's efficiency.