The fall issue of Network News, the newsletter we produce three times a year to keep our supporters informed about our work, has been published. Learn about some of the things Farm Radio International has been up to in the past few months.

Some highlights include the launch of the Farmer Program e-Course, a new initiative called the Radio for Farmer Value Chain Development, the Rockefeller Foundation winning entry – FarmQuest, and donors who used the occasion of their 50th wedding anniversary to make a special gift to Farm Radio International.

To read the issue, click here.

Jefferson Massah calls himself part of the Farm Radio International Family. As a rural radio journalist in Liberia, he uses skills that he learned from Farm Radio International training on a regular basis.

In fact, Jefferson recently wrote to tell us that he was named Development Journalist of the Year by the Press Union of Liberia. He won this award for a story about women in agricultural development in Liberia. As he explains:

I employed all the skills acquired from Farm Radio to produce a very good report from a rice processing center managed by group of rural women in central Liberia.

“I am very pleased to imprint my contribution to the ‘achievement column’ of Farm Radio International as one who has immensely benefited [from] its training program”,  he adds.

Jefferson participated in two Farm Radio International script-writing courses, in 2009 and 2010. And he is about to embark on our latest web-based course. While previous online courses have helped broadcasters obtain basic research and story-telling skills, the Farmer Program eCourse will serve a broader purpose. It will provide participating African broadcasters with the tools to design a more effective and engaging regular farming program.

This course is designed for broadcasters who want to start a regular, weekly or daily farmer program, or for those who want to hone their skills to improve their station’s regular farmer program.

We know that African broadcasters are dedicated to serving their listening audiences (mostly small-scale farmers) but many have never had the opportunity to learn the basics of researching the needs of their audience or structuring a program.

The upcoming Farmer Program eCourse will help African radio broadcasters do just that.

Key Topics for the Farmer’s eCourse include:

• Identifying your audience and addressing the needs of small-scale farmers (both men and women) in your area.

• Telling stories and structuring your program to present different kinds of information and use multiple formats.

• Identifying and finding the resources needed to sustain your regular farmer program.

• Gathering audience feedback.

To graduate from the training course, participants will be expected to submit a complete design for a regular radio program for farmers. The best designs will be eligible for one-time seed funding to help them produce the program designed during the eCourse.

The Farmer Program eCourse is being run with the financial and technical support of the Commonwealth of Learning. If you’d like to read more about the eCourse, or view some of the training modules that broadcasters will learn from, please visit: http://ecourse.farmradio.org/.

Janette McDonald has served as a FRI Board member for 9 years.

Farm Radio International benefits from the dedication of Board members who bring expertise in management, agriculture, radio broadcasting, development communications, finance, legal counsel, and fundraising. This fall, some of our Board members will step down, making room for new faces and points of view.

Janette McDonald of Alberta offers a wealth of experience communicating with farmers, demonstrating a commitment to sustainable agriculture and appropriate technology. She works with soil conservation groups in Alberta, has served as Executive Director of Alberta Pulse Growers, and has worked as a District Agriculturalist with the Alberta Department of Agriculture. With Farm Radio International, she served on the Board for nine years, with terms as Vice-President of the Board and as Chair of the Nominations Committee.

Please describe your most rewarding experience as a Board member of Farm Radio International.

Most rewarding: being part of an organization that chose to collaborate with another NGO (World University Service of Canada) to the benefit of both organizations and their global partners. Second most rewarding: being part of an organization that chose to strengthen its Board of Directors by bringing a resident of Africa onto the Board in 2012.

Based on your experience as a board member, how would you describe Farm Radio International’s work and potential to affect long-term food security in Africa?

In my experience, Canadian farm families have seen their autonomy slip away over the last two decades. Canadian farmers are producing huge volumes of material, but at a serious cost to our communities and local economies. Canadian agriculture started out “feeding the world” but increasingly we are serving the “well-fed.”

Farm Radio International’s commitment to small-holder, independent farmers gives me confidence that African farmers will have the information they need to feed their world and their communities in the future.

The staff and fellow Board members of Farm Radio International wish to thank Janette for many dedicated years of service.

High in protein, iron, and fibre, tef is a tiny grain that serves as a nutritional powerhouse in Ethiopia. This traditional crop accounts for about a quarter of grain production in the country. A new Farm Radio International program will help Ethiopian farmers boost production of this vital crop.

The Ethiopian Agricultural Transformation Agency has tested new farming practices that can increase tef yields by 50-100%. These practices include innovative planting techniques, new blends of fertilizers, and the use of improved seeds. Farm Radio International is working with local radio stations to share knowledge on these improved practices for cultivating tef. An estimated 60,000 farmers will be receiving this information over the airwaves.

To read more about other new radio programs that will improve food security and health, check out some upcoming Farm Radio International Impact Programs – programs that have a specific impact on a development challenge – by clicking here. You will find updates on programs about expanding aquaculture in Malawi, improving maternal, newborn, and child health in Burkina Faso; and helping farmers improve soil health in Tanzania. Read the spring issue of Network News for these exciting updates.

Spring 'Network News' 2012

August 8 is Farmer’s Day in Tanzania, and is celebrated with week-long agricultural fairs up and down the country. This year, Farm Radio International mounted an exhibition at the fair in Arusha. The fair is called Nane Nane because it is celebrated on the eighth day of the eighth month – “nane” means eight in Swahili.

The fair takes place in a large showground, and attracts a range of exhibitors, from NGOs to farmers’ groups, and from mobile phone companies to companies selling agricultural equipment.

Farm Radio International shared a stand with The Organic Farmer (http://www.organicfarmermagazine.org/) and our broadcasting partner Radio Maria (one of Tanzania’s national radio stations). We showed videos of our work in action, provided printed materials, gave out food samples and displayed the Lifeplayer solar-powered radio and MP3 player.

FRI volunteer, Paddy Roberts, handing out orange-fleshed sweet potato samples

By the end of the week FRI volunteer, Paddy Roberts, had cooked 30 kgs of orange-fleshed sweet potato which was given out to the visitors at our stand!  We wanted to raise awareness for this nutritious food among local farmers and consumers.   This potato, full of vitamin A, is not grown in the Arusha area -  so it was brought in from the Lake zone.  Some people had not seen it before, but a lot asked where they could get planting material.

Japhet Emmanuel, Assistant Field Manager for the Farm Radio International Tanzania office translates for Paddy Roberts, FRI volunteer, as he is interviewed live on Radio Maria.

Paddy Roberts was also interviewed live via mobile phone on Radio Maria with the translation help of Japhet Emmanuel, Assistant Field Manager for the FRI Tanzania office.  Those at the FRI stand could hear the interview on the Lifeplayer solar-powered/windup recordable radio/MP3 player.  The Lifeplayer ran on solar power for the duration of the exhibition, airing Radio Maria programs.

Here are some more pictures from a great week:

FRI staff member, Japhet Emmanuel, showcasing the Lifeplayer with some visitors.

Emanuel and Paddy (with Radio Maria staff member) doing a live interview that is being aired on the solar-powered Lifeplayer

In May1979, Farm Radio International founder, George Atkins, sent the first script package to 34 radio broadcasters in 26 countries. His idea was to share practical farm information in a world-wide exchange through the most assessable medium, radio. He sought out information about affordable and appropriate agricultural techniques, such as how to fertilize their crops with animal manure or compost, or how to raise oxen.

Today, more than 400 participating radio partners in 38 African countries help us to gather and share the practical information that goes into our radio scripts, news items and newsletters. Topics cover a wide variety of information important to the small-scale farmer including soil fertility, climate change adaptation, livestock health, and includes a variety of formats (interview, drama, spots, etc.). Scripts also include tips for broadcasters on presenting the information and adapting it for their own listening audience.

For over thirty years Farm Radio International has sent the script packages, free of charge, in English and French, to our partners in sub-Saharan Africa, where they are adapted to local conditions, translated into hundreds of languages, and broadcast to a potential audience of several hundred million people.

These scripts are also available on our website and are sent out electronically to our partners in Africa and to other organizations and individuals around the world that support small-scale agriculture and rural development. To view many of our scripts and resources online, click here.

Farm Radio International has for a long time wished to provide our radio scripts in languages other than English and French. We are now pleased to announce that some of our most popular scripts are available in Swahili and Hausa!

Using feedback from broadcasters, and focusing on scripts that were particularly relevant to the regions where each language is spoken, we chose fifteen scripts to be translated into each language. Some scripts are available in both Hausa and Swahili. Others are only available in one of the languages, depending on content and regional relevance.

For example, you can now read script 86.1 Local water committee helps villagers, but especially women and children

in Swahili: 86.1 Kamati za maji zinasaidia wanavijiji, hususan wanawake na watoto;

and in Hausa: 86.1 Kwamitin ruwa na gida na taimaka wa yan kyauye, samma ma mata da yara.

Visit these links to view and download all the translated scripts:

http://www.farmradio.org/english/radio-scripts/languages.asp

This summer, four students of the Carleton University Journalism Program interned with Farm Radio International and their partners across three different sub-Saharan African countries (Malawi, Tanzania and Ghana). They are working with government and Ministries, radio stations or with Farm Radio International directly.

Alex Butler, FRI intern, stands beside Farm Radio International office sign in Arusha, Tanzania

One student, Alex Butler, is working with Farm Radio International’s office in Arusha, Tanzania. She has been helping with the production of Farm Radio Weekly (FRW), our electronic news service which reaches over 2,000 African subscribers. Her work consists of conducting research for the publication as well as interviewing farmers and writing stories. Her first article was published in the June 25, 2012 issue of FRW.

In this first FRW story, Alex wrote about a farmer, Elisa Pallangyo, whom she met in the village of Maweni, 30 kilometres outside Arusha. Alex found out that Mr. Pallangyo has achieved great success on his small farm by intercropping maize with beans or peas. He has been able to achieve large yields all without using expensive fertilizers or pesticides. Mr. Pallangyo told Alex that he is very thankful for his farm’s success, because it has allowed him to put his children through school. To find out why intercropping the key to his success and how is he is now helping his community, read more:

“Tanzania: Farmer attributes his farm’s success to intercropping”

Farmer, Elisa Pallangyo and his wife in their field in the village of Maweni (30 kilometres outside Arusha), found success with intercropping.

Alex has recently earned her Bachelor of Journalism from Carleton University. While at Carleton, she specialized in reporting social issues and has a strong interest in international reporting which is why she applied to be an intern with Farm Radio International.

In a recent email exchange with Farm Radio staff in Ottawa, Alex wrote:

My experience at Farm Radio Tanzania has been fantastic. The FRI team in Tanzania has been so welcoming and the sense of community we have at the office is like nowhere I’ve ever worked before.

“In the short time I’ve been here, I have been able to learn a lot. The internship has given me the opportunity to use the skills I learned in journalism school and to really see the important role that media can play in development. It’s given me a stronger sense of the importance of what journalists do and how important it is for NGO’s like Farm Radio to exist. I’ve been able to see the results that come from promoting agricultural best-practices, and how necessary this is to ensure food security in Africa. Interviewing farmers about what they do and how they live has been some of the most rewarding work in my journalistic experience”.

I am also so impressed that Farm Radio puts such an emphasis on promoting women’s rights, maternal and child health, nutrition and environmental sustainability. At Farm Radio, I can feel that the stories we are writing really matter and I hope that I can continue to do this type of work when I get back to Canada. I’m very excited to take what I’ve learned here tell people back home about the work that FRI does.

Thank you for your dedication to your work Alex and we hope to see you around the Farm Radio offices in the future!

In June of this year, Farm Radio International’s Regional Field Manager in Mali – Modibo Coulibaly – entered an idea to the Rockefeller Foundation’s 2012 Innovation Challenges Competition. The idea, called FarmQuest, was developed by the Farm Radio International team. On June 25, we received the exciting news that this idea was one of 15 winners of the Competition! As a winner, we now have an opportunity to apply for a $100,000 grant from the Rockefeller Foundation to produce FarmQuest. Over 2,000 ideas were submitted to the Rockefeller Innovation Challenges Competition this year, so we were thrilled that FarmQuest was selected. To see the announcement, click here.

Here are some key elements of this innovative and very interesting proposal:

FarmQuest:

A reality radio program series featuring an exciting, competitive quest by 6-8 young people to create the “best new farm.” Contestants are coached along the way by a variety of experts and wise people.

This radio-based interactive farming competition will be run through the Farm Radio International regional office in Mali. But the idea will work in any region or country which has a competent radio station, covering the same language area.

Summary:

FarmQuest will feature 6-8 young people competing for the prize of “best new farm” over a 9-12 month period. An engaging cast of diverse contestants each takes a small plot of land and tries to create a vibrant farming business over this period. They are offered coaching from a range of characters – elderly farmers, young extensionists, researchers, and business people. They face tough decisions, weigh their options, watch the skies, worry about their plants and animals, and negotiate with buyers. The climax: the selection of two “best new farms.” The process will be presented in episodic radio documentaries over 12 weeks. Each episode will be dissected and analyzed through lively follow-up discussions, debates, call-in shows, audience polling.

Purpose:

The purpose of FarmQuest is to prove to young people, the selected farmers and the audience alike, that farming as a business can provide a good – and exciting – livelihood. FarmQuest will reveal that farming, while hard work, can be a viable, rewarding livelihood for a young person. The contestants will act as role models that a youth audience can relate to. Participating farmers will receive expert advice at every step to tackle technical, social or economic barriers, thus showing, rather than telling, what is possible. Key elements to attracting a youth audience are: radio program style and quality, competition, and audience participation. These elements aim to change negative perceptions and show young people that farming need not be dreary.

It is our belief that most of the contestants will continue to run viable farms after the program ends, and can give inspiration and advice to other young farmers in the area who were encouraged to follow their example.

Young farmers will understand what is possible, and will learn new information and farming techniques from the radio programs. They will know the steps they need to take and where to get relevant advice. The potential audience is huge, as one station can reach millions.

Mariam Koné is a writer for Farm Radio Weekly. Recently, she met three farmers in Mali and captured their stories of how radio is helping them overcome a major challenge that has threatened their crops. The following is one interview.

Noé Diarra a millet and sorghum producer in the village of Dobwo, in eastern Mali.

“Upon the very first rain, my son plowed the field. I advised him to wait for another rain for the soil to become moist, and, as God would have it, it rained two weeks later. It was the beginning of last June and my son and his family planted sorghum. The millet was sprouting extraordinarily well. I was truly happy. Our sorghum field had the best leaves in the village.

“Then suddenly the rains started to slow. Our joy was very short lived as, to our great surprise; we found that the millet plants were starting to yellow. In 15 days, all the millet plants had turned yellow, leaving us with a field that was empty and devastated. I couldn’t understand it. Was this because the rain was scarce in a month that is normally very rainy (that is to say August)? I thought that a bad spell had been cast upon my field. The field had never floundered like this before.

“Some of my neighbours told me that it was striga. I didn’t really believe it because this plant has always been my companion. I blamed my son, because he didn’t keep track of the field after planting (even though that task usually falls to me).

One fine morning in October 2011, I heard over the airwaves of Radio Moutian that there was a way to get rid of striga. Really, I thought I was dreaming. The guest was Pierre Théra, my nephew who I know very well through the l’Union des Agriculteurs du Cercle de Tomianian [local farmers’ union], and he convinced me. I know this boy will never lie.

“How is it that I didn’t learn about this in time? If we had applied the new farming techniques that Pierre described, I’m sure I wouldn’t be here telling you about my misadventure. What I mean to say is, all the efforts that my family put forward this year failed. I am certainly not the only one to complain about the evils of this cursed weed. Maybe my field was hit worse than others. If not, this plant has taken over everything. For me, striga is a fatal disease. For me, the only remedy is to rip it out. On top of that, I’m going to burn my field this year.

At the farmers’ union, I was told to prepare myself for next year, as the seeds will be available in February. I swear that I, Noé Diarra, will sow my field with [good quality seeds] and intercrop legumes. Yes, I will avenge my field with the weapons that Radio Moutian has given us. Indeed, if it weren’t for the insistence of the radio, I wouldn’t believe that striga is the problem.

 To read a story based on Mariam Koné’s other two interviews, click here.

Radio is the only place where the Minister of Agriculture

and the small farmer meet,

says Rex Chapota, Executive Director of Farm Radio Malawi. He sits in a small office with Farm Radio International staff here in Ottawa, Canada explaining the powerful possibilities associated with radio. Not just radio; but radio that values farmers and gives them the chance to express their opinions and concerns.

Mr. Chapota worked directly with Farm Radio International (FRI) for almost four years, leading the Malawi office in cutting edge research to discover the effectiveness of rural radio in Africa (see the research results here). The work was so good in fact, that a home-grown Malawi-based NGO called Farm Radio Malawi spun off of FRI in 2010. It still remains a close partner for FRI but operates as a separate organization on the ground, staffed by Malawians who understand very well the realities of working in the small Southern African country.

Throughout the 1980’s and 1990’s agricultural extension systems across sub-Saharan Africa were all but dismantled. Decreases in funding and shifts in policy away from government social programs led to a problem: over-burdened government agencies that were charged with serving small-scale farmers. It is not uncommon to see one extension agent serving 2,000 farmers in many countries. This situation is unsustainable and where we see radio as a way to reach out to isolated, and often information hungry, farmers.

Mr. Chapota sees a change in the way Malawi approaches communication for development:

Our research has really raised a demand for radio. We are starting to see a re-investment in radio as a means to serve farmers over great distances. Not only that, but the government (of Malawi) is now coming to us as a partner. They are learning from us how to engage with farmers. It is no longer just about using the medium for awareness-raising, but how to involve a large portion of the population in the conversation.

Through the African Farm Radio Research Initiative (AFRRI), Farm Radio International learned that participatory radio campaigns aimed at informing and engaging farmers can actually lead to dramatic increases in the adoption of appropriate agricultural practices. In Malawi several campaigns focused on one-to-one maize planting and organic manure. These are the types of changes that can have a major impact on food security for millions of farmers.

Mr. Rex Chapota will be speaking at the Farm Radio International office in Ottawa, Canada on Monday June 18, 2012, sharing his experience in working with small-scale farmers in Malawi. He will examine the explosion of interest in rural radio in Malawi and the transformative effects it can have on policy formation as well as ultimate changes in food security for farmers. Please join us!