Conceptural Framework for RDSS

Methi Ekasingh

Needs for a Rice Decision Support System

Where are the major rice growing areas, how many rai (or hectares) are cultivated, what is the expected yield for this year are the most common questions that have been raised by the policy makers at the national and the provincial levels. Other specific questions relate to where to expand the cultivated areas of high quality rice or decrease the unproductive paddy fields. The answers rely on a system that can integrate the power of spatial information with the ability of a crop model to simulate different scenarios based on production environments and resources in the target areas with the management and policy imposed.

Issues of Scaling-up the Rice Production System

Estimating rice yield at the field and provincial levels involve different types of complexity and efforts. The followings table outlines the issues:

	Field scale	Provincial scale
Extent	0.1 - 1.0 ha	2 - 4 million ha
Landscape complexity	simple	complex
Data Layers	few	many
Spatial variation	less	more
Data management	low (MB)	high (GB)
Importance of spatial information	low	high
Link to policy	less	more

A System in Need

Considering the requirement for good rice decision support system, a system in need should be able to

	store and manage spatial information,
	accurately estimate and timely predict rice yield,
	provide good interface between spatial information, crop and user, and
	incorporate different scenario analyses.

Components of Rice Decision Support System Project

Three main components of the Project are:

	Spatial database development based on GIS and image processing softwares to generate spatial data as required by CERES-Rice model
	Field calibration and validaton of CERES-Rice and the modification of the model if required.
	A graphic user interface (ThaiRice) development to facilitate the interface between spatial data and CERES-Rice model and the display the results of different scenario analyses.

framwork.jpg (17682 bytes)

Compoments of the Rice Decision Support System Project

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For more information please contact: methi@chiangmai.ac.th