Farm Radio Weekly

Brian Moonga is a freelance journalist based in Lusaka, Zambia. Brian has worked with Inter Press Service and Radio Netherlands. He is also a correspondent for Reuters and does TV reports. He started writing for FRW just before we opened our Southern Africa bureau, and has been a regular contributor over the last two years. We caught up with him recently to hear more about the media in Zambia, and his work with Farm Radio Weekly.

Brian talked about the media climate in Zambia, and the great potential for community radio:

“With over forty radio stations countrywide … a great leap since the early 1990s when only the State ran the media, it is evident that this sector is surely growing at an impressive pace. Freeing of [the] airwaves and Zambia’s hunger for a liberalised economy has significantly helped enhance a suitable environment for flourishing of not only press freedom, but freedom of expression and promotion of human rights … However … Zambian journalists have suffered gagging at the hands of all five regimes that have been in power.… This said, by regional standards, Zambia’s media development is impressive, with minimal legislative hurdles for establishing community radio, but more challenges accessing finances to set up one …”

Brian also spoke about ICTs in community radio:

“In the case of radio stations, many now do not only have state-of-the-art equipment; they also have great access to internet and mobile phones. ICTs have generally made broadcasting easier for many radio stations, who now have the ability to receive instant feedback from their audiences through electronic mail, social media networks such as Twitter and Facebook, and news sites, as well as get instant short text messages via cell phone and [the] ability to sustain a two-way communication or conversation …”

We asked Brian about his experience writing for FRW and his experience with agriculture:

“When I started writing for Farm Radio about two years ago, my knowledge of agriculture was very scanty … It was very challenging to gather stories, but my close touch with agriculture-based organisations [helped], and I usually looked out for any farming-related stories whenever I was out in the rural [areas] … Although Zambian farmers, especially small-scale ones, do not take prominence in the news media … I was shocked to learn that 90 per cent of all food production in my country was done by small-scale farmers, peasants and mostly women who had very little access to financing and inputs that would help turn around these 90 per cent peasant farmers into bigger food producers that Zambia needs for domestic consumption and export to get the much needed foreign exchange.”

Brian told us what he likes most about Farm Radio Weekly:

“FRW is really a great effort towards a group of important farmers that in many countries like mine have not had a great voice. I know that many community radio stations, most of them in the rural [areas] and in close touch with farmers, have benefitted from FRW and so have the farmers; information has flowed and lives have been changed.”