Mobile phone applications (apps) designed to assist smallholder farmers improve decision‐making have been revolutionizing the agriculture sector. These apps offer solutions to farmer information needs by providing weather information, crop market trends, pest and disease damage identification, and advice on pesticide and fertilizer use. They also facilitate interaction with fellow farmers, extension workers and other stakeholders in the value chain who are interested in information exchange. Much previous research has investigated the contribution of mobile apps to agricultural production. This study explored the agricultural mobile apps available in Myanmar, analyzed factors affecting their use and assessed the potential for farm‐based decision support. Our findings indicate that when introducing mobile‐based tools, focus should be given to younger, more educated farmers growing more specialized crops. The main constraints to adopt agricultural apps are lack of access to smartphone and/or internet (63%) and lack of digital knowledge (20%). However, smallholder farmers in Myanmar were optimistic and positive toward agricultural apps for effective utilization. We also found that majority of the surveyed farmers were familiar with information received through Facebook groups. Incorporating useful information and functions from an agricultural mobile app to a Facebook Page could have a more useful and sustainable impact.

Nematode diseases caused by Hirschmanniella spp. are becoming a major threat to lotus production in Tokushima Prefecture, a primary production area in Japan. The objectives of this study were: i) to design specific primers to Hirschmanniella spp. causing damage to lotus; ii) to evaluate the relationship between pre-plant density of Hirschmanniella spp. in soil and damage index of lotus; and iii) to establish an economic threshold level. Since two species, Hirschmanniella imamuri and H. diversa, are known as nematode pests on lotus, three real-time PCR primers were designed based on the ITS regions specific to H. imamuri (designated as imaF and imaR), H. diversa (divF and divR), and both species (HdiF and HdiR). The primers imaF and imaR did not react to DNA of nematodes extracted from lotus fields in Tokushima but the primers divF and divR did, suggesting that the damage seen in Tokushima is mainly caused by H. diversa. A calibration curve was made to evaluate the relationship between the number of Hirschmanniella spp. inoculated to soil and the threshold cycle values. The quantification of Hirschmanniella spp. in soil was conducted by real-time PCR method with the primers HdiF and HdiR as well as the Baermann method. The economic threshold level was estimated as ten individuals of Hirschmanniella spp. (100 g fresh soil)⁻¹ with the Baermann method and 50 individuals (100 g oven-dried soil)⁻¹ with real-time PCR.

Decision Support Tools (DSTs) in agriculture have been widely developed but have not been well accepted by smallholder farmers. One reason for the limited use is that the tools do not account for the complexity of heterogeneous smallholder farming systems. Identifying farm typologies has facilitated technology transfer to target groups of farmers. Accounting for heterogeneity in farm systems can help in designing and deploying DSTs to address farmer needs. Typology analysis was applied to a 600-household survey dataset to identify different farm system types. Qualitative participatory research was used to assess the potential deployment of DSTs for fertilizer management. Six types of farm systems were identified with distinct characteristics in the study area of central Myanmar. Participatory research through focus group discussions with 34 participants from the six different farm types validated the farm typologies and found that farmers from one type considered that DSTs could be useful in gaining more information and knowledge. An important finding was that DSTs providing prescriptive advice were inconsistent with what many farmers want. Farmers indicated that discussion groups are a preferred learning-based approach rather than a prescriptive tool. Farmers preferred video clips and infographics integrated into existing familiar digital platforms. This study identifies heterogeneity within a large farm sample and develops a deeper understanding of fertilizer decisions as well as knowledge and intentions related to the use of DSTs or apps via follow-up focus group discussions. Incorporating a participatory research framework with typology identification can have a beneficial role in direct interactions with smallholders that may increase their acceptability of DSTs. This study has generated valuable information about farmer types and serves as a starting point for developing a framework for discussion support systems that may better relate to the needs of farmers.

Agriculture in Myanmar has substantial development potential given the abundance of land, water, and labor resources in the country. Despite this, agricultural productivity in Myanmar is low and farm incomes are amongst the lowest in Asia. The underperformance of crops and low yield is widely reported to be due to low fertilizer use by smallholders. This study investigated the perceptions of smallholders about fertilizer use for cereal crops by considering their motives and decision making. We reported results of a 600 smallholders’ survey and tested whether the reportedly low fertilizer use by smallholders is generally true for central Myanmar. We compared the fertilizer application timing against recommended “good management practices”. Among the surveyed rice farmers, the average fertilizer applied was much higher than previously reported national average fertilizer rates while the majority of the surveyed maize farmers were found to be applying less than the national recommended rates. With respect to timing, nearly half of the surveyed smallholders were not applying nitrogen at the estimated panicle initiation stage, which is often crucial to increase yield, and the majority (82%) of smallholders were applying phosphorus throughout the growth stages, when earlier applications are desirable. Smallholders may be able to reduce the cost of labor by reducing the number of P applications and avoiding late applications.

The underperformance of cereal crops in Myanmar is closely related to inadequate supply of nutrients, particularly nitrogen (N). Although other crop management practices can limit crop yields, management of nutrients for crop production is an important contemporary issue. Myanmar rice growers have changed from being mainly subsistence to semi-subsistence, and there are also good prospects for increasing rice exports. Therefore there are incentives to improve rice yields and profits. Similarly for maize, as a higher value crop, there is a strong incentive to improve production and profits. But smallholder options to increase crop fertility must be considered in the social and economic context of their farming systems and village livelihoods. With small farm sizes, indebtedness, potentially high borrowing costs, and aversion to risk, their personal perspectives must be identified, discussed and incorporated into development activities. The decision to use more fertiliser is an investment with potential benefits and costs, which must be considered in the family and village contexts in which the decision is made. Smallholder personal (subjective) beliefs about crop yield improvements from added fertiliser are important in considering such decisions. An economic framework is available for evaluating such decisions (marginal analysis of returns from incremental N applications with a high target rate of investment return), which can be used in conjunction with field demonstrations of crop yield responses to fertiliser. But further study of social aspects such as understanding smallholder perspectives, motivations and limits to action will be undertaken in conjunction with agronomic and economic assessments.

Questions of ‘improving’ smallholder decisions for farm input use have long exercised the minds of RD&E practitioners with ‘reducing poverty’ objectives in developing countries. Decision Support Tools (DSTs) have often been developed for farmers and/or extension agents based on a ‘top-down’ or linear Research-Development-Extension paradigm. There is evidence that DSTs are not used by farm decision makers. Some developers of DSTs don’t realise that smallholder farmers must borrow money to buy fertilizer! In Myanmar smallholder farmers are using Nitrogen (N) fertilizer for cereal crop production and these decisions have been studied to investigate whether better information can be provided for such decisions. These smallholders are semi-subsistence with reliance on purchased inputs and they sell to markets for profit. Considering the current situation for rice and maize production systems in the central Dry Zone of Myanmar, how can information be provided to relevant decision makers (farmers, extension agents, input suppliers) leading to improved farm household well-being? Is the development of a ‘traditional’ DST (as described above) likely to be of value? Can an improved decision-making framework be developed for this set of farmers and circumstances? A multi-disciplinary ACIAR-funded project in central Myanmar has investigated rice and maize production focussing on nutrient use efficiency and fertiliser decisions. Bio-physical work included field trials measuring crop yield responses to differing levels of N input (production functions) and taking associated soil and plant measures to estimate N uptake and use efficiency. The socio-economic component included initial focus group workshops, two farmer field surveys, a literature review of DSTs and an economic analysis of the crop yield responses for ‘best’ N levels. The project has promised to develop a DST, and the purpose of this paper is to outline our thinking about decision support. The paper draws together in