The YSF Team or Young Smart Farmers from Ayutthaya Province was declared the winner in the “Farmers Love Soil” edutainment reality TV contest at the closing ceremony held recently by BRIA Thailand in collaboration with the Rice Department, the Land Development Department, Bank for Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperatives, BASF (Thai) Limited and Farm Channel (Thailand) Co., Ltd., at the Rice Department.
“Farmers Love Soil” was organized to celebrate the designation of the year of 2015 as the “International Year of Soils”. The contest promoted better soil and nutrient management, production cost reduction, good agricultural practice (GAP) and preservation of fertile rice fields.
The YSF Team received a trophy and cash prize. The “Love Don Chedi” Team of Suphanburi Province was the runner-up. Both teams were trained in soil management, soil testing for nutrient analysis and fertilization. They were required to pass on the knowledge to their networks of farmers in the communities during a period of three months. Their activities were covered by Farm Channel.
The jury was headed by Dr. Apichart Pongsrihadulchai, former Vice Minister of the Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives. The judging criteria were based on how well the two teams managed their networks, how their technical solutions contributed to effective soil and nutrient management and reduced production costs as well as how well they transfered the acquired knowledge to their peer farmers. Viewers at home also sent SMS to vote for their favourite teams.
Farmers nationwide learned from the programme such useful subjects as soil sampling for analysis, soil testing, bookkeeping, stubble management, bio-extract use, land preparation, better seed management, water management, fertilization and site-specific fertilizer recommendations, which were broadcast on Miracle Channel every Friday, 06:00-06:30 hours, from September 25 to December 11, 2015.
“Farmers Love Soil” was a sequel to “Farmers Love Safety,” which BRIA, the Rice Department, BASF and Farm Channel successfully put on in 2014 to entertain and educate farmers about responsible use of crop protection products. In future, BRIA will highlight seed management and Integrated Pest Management (IPM).
BRIA seeks to promote sustainable growth in agricultural production and improve rice value chains. This public-private partnership collaboration provides farmers with better knowledge on the use of production inputs and access to markets.