MANILA, Philippines -- The Philippine government, the world's largest rice importer, and the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) are turning to technology as part of a larger effort to boost palay production.

The country is bracing for massive crop losses due to drought caused by the El Niño but hopes to still meet its target rice harvest of 17.4 million metric tons for 2010.

The Department of Agriculture (DA) said in a statement that Agriculture Secretary Bernie Fondevilla and IRRI director general Robert Zeigler have signed a memorandum of agreement to implement a project that would use the Internet and cellular phones to give farmers advice on such matters as the timing and amount of fertilization.

The project, dubbed NMRice (Nutrient Management for Rice), will use an existing contact center as an information gateway, according to the DA.

The Farmers' Contact Center (FCC) being managed by the DA's Agricultural Training Institute will provide the service.

Globe Telecom will be tapped to provide the information to farmers through an Interactive Voice Response interface to be connected to the FCC. The country's second-largest telco would provide a four-digit hotline number which will be announced soon, the DA said.

As for content, the IRRI will provide the data on improved production practices, as agreed under the memorandum.

The DA will release P1.8 million to the IRRI for NMRice, promote the resource tool, and put in place the mechanism for delivering the information to farmers.

Fondevilla said that many farmers often did not bother to read printed materials on fertilization because they found them too complex to understand and follow.

In contrast, the NMRice interface was designed so that a caller, say a farmer or extension worker, can get customized information in 15 minutes through the FCC.

The Philippines, the world's largest rice importer, lost 449,549 tons of rice in the first quarter. This, as production dropped to 3.49 million tons from 3.94 million tons due to extreme heat, according to a report by the Bureau of Agricultural Statistics (BAS).

The decline in rice production might worsen to 902,000 metric tons in the first nine months of the year. A forecast from BAS said that output in the first nine months of the year might decline to 9.99 million tons from 10.896 million tons a year earlier.

That is higher than the 800,000 tons in El Niño-related losses predicted by the government under a worst-case scenario.

However, the DA maintains that the Philippines still has hope of meeting its palay production target of 17.4 million metric tons or more this year by improving farm management and encouraging the use of hybrid rice seeds developed for higher yields.

Higher yields would ease the burden on the government to subsidize rice imports through the National Food Authority.

According to data from the Department of Finance, subsidies to the NFA amounted to about P4 billion in 2009, up from P2 billion the previous year.

In 2009, the Philippines imported 1.775 million tons of rice, down from 2.4 million tons in 2008. The Philippines also front-loaded 2.48 million tons of rice orders for 2010 supply, as early as November 2009.

The imports were meant to make up for lost crops due to typhoons in late 2009 and the mild El Niño in early 2010.