Notes to broadcasters on radio for supporting farmers’ livelihoods
Date Posted: August 6th, 2012
This story from Cameroon is a good example of how radio can be used to support farmers in their daily work. It is a very simple format and works because farmers are willing to spend a small amount of money to have their questions answered by someone they trust on the radio. It is a fast and interactive way for farmers to get the information they need to solve day-to-day issues, when they have little or no access to books, on-line resources, or other information sources in rural areas.
Farm Radio International’s mission is to work with farm radio broadcasters to support small scale farmers, so we support this endeavour and encourage broadcasters to try it – we think you will soon have a successful farm radio show on your hands!
FRI recently conducted a long-term study into the effectiveness of radio for improving knowledge and changing behaviour. You can read the results in these three reports:
Participatory Radio Campaigns and food security: How radio can help farmers make informed decisions:
http://www.farmradio.org/pubs/farmradio-prcreport2011.pdf
Marketing on the airwaves: Marketing Information service and radio:
http://www.farmradio.org/pubs/farmradio-misreport2011.pdf
The new age of radio: How ICTs are changing rural radio in Africa:
http://www.farmradio.org/pubs/farmradio-ictreport2011.pdf
For World Radio Day this year, we ran four stories on how farmers can benefit from local radio programs. You can read them all at this link:
http://weekly.farmradio.org/topic/issue-188/
You may want to consider trying a similar program format, or adding this as a segment in your existing farm radio programs. Make sure you do plenty of publicity first, so that farmers know they can call in with questions. You will need to find a knowledgeable farming expert – or panel of experts. Ask extension staff if they would like to take part, or farmers who are well-respected locally.
If you already produce this kind of question and answer program at your station, we would love to hear about it. What format do you use? What has worked well and what did not work as well as expected? Contact us at farmradioweekly@farmradio.org
August 12th, 2012 at 10:45 pm
http://www.topburberryoutletsales.com/