The AI fertilizer advice Philippines system has been enhanced to better respond to farmers’ real-world needs.

Rice farmers can now get clearer fertilizer advice and quicker support after upgrades were introduced to PALAI, an artificial intelligence (AI) tool developed by the Department of Agriculture–Philippine Rice Research Institute (DA-PhilRice).

Based on actual questions sent by farmers from November 2025 to March this year, developers have fine-tuned how the system responds and make it more useful in farming conditions.

Dr. John C. de Leon, PhilRice executive director, said the upgrade comes as fertilizer prices continue to weigh on farmers.

“PALAI now provides more specific guidance, helping users decide what fertilizer to use, how much to apply per hectare, and when to apply it, from initial application to succeeding crop stages,” he said.

The system, he explained, can detect fertilizer intent from a farmer’s message, recognize Filipino terms like abono and pataba, and ask follow-up questions before giving recommendations.

“It also uses the TIPID Abono database to generate fertilizer combinations and application schedules based on the farmer’s rice area,” he shared.

De Leon emphasized that the improvements are backed by an upgraded knowledge base of more than 8,000 expert-reviewed question-and-answer (QA) pairs covering rice production, varieties, pest management, fertilizer, and PhilRice programs.

“An AI chatbot is only as good as the knowledge behind it. The QA pairs curated by PhilRice subject matter specialists contributed largely to PALAI’s improvement,” he stressed.

System performance, he said, improved from 34% to 89% with 119 out of 133 test questions answered correctly. Remaining gaps involve more complex, step-by-step conversations.

PALAI can also now better handle unclear or multiple questions in one message.

“It can recall earlier exchanges to give more relevant follow-up responses and avoids giving wrong advice by indicating when available data is not enough. It can also detect off-topic queries and act accordingly,” de Leon explained.

Support has expanded to include direct assistance as farmers can now be referred to PhilRice staff through a built-in handoff feature, while a branch-level inbox helps staff track and respond to concerns more efficiently, improving coordination between users and PhilRice service units.

The platform is also being explored for use by other users including PhilRice researchers, extension workers, and administrative units as more datasets become available to further train the system.

De Leon pointed out that the upgrade supports the government’s push for interoperable digital services following the signing of the implementing rules and regulations of Republic Act No. 12254 or the E-Governance Act by the Department of Information and Communications Technology.

“PALAI is being developed to enable its tools, data, and services to integrate with other systems, reducing reliance on fragmented or standalone platforms,” he added.

Additional upgrades are also underway including voice support, improved recognition of Filipino farming terms, faster responses, and additional tools to improve coordination between farmers and chatbot agents to support integration with other systems and services.