Issue #41

Although Farm Radio Weekly took a publishing break last week, that certainly didn’t stop new subscribers from signing up! We are pleased to return with 10 new subscribers from across the African continent: Daouda Zongo, from Radio Municipale d’Ouagadougou in Burkina Faso; Mahamat Abdoulaye Issa, from Education Environnementale et du Développement Durable in Chad; Titto Sylvain, from agri-eye in Côte d’Ivoire; Nzita Makueloi Dieudonné, from Radio Muinda/Tshela in the Democratic Republic of the Congo; Louzi Omar, from the NGO MJEM in Morocco; Sabine Zajderman, an independent consultant in South Africa; Gloria Kiwia, from from Sibuka FM in Tanzania; Gnasse Atinèdi, from Radio Zéphyr in Togo; Okongo Owino Francis, from Knowledge Support and Research Centre in Uganda; and Moses Donald Chimedza, from Towards Sustainable (Use) of Resources in Zimbabwe. We extend a warm welcome to all of our new subscribers!

This week, we bring you coverage of two major conferences that took place recently. Our newest correspondent, Sawa Pius, was at the Banana 2008 conference in Mombasa, Kenya. He brings us the story of women farmers in Rwanda who took advantage of microfinancing to start small banana-processing operations. From the 5th International Conference of La Via Campesina, held in Maputo, Mozambique, we bring you the voices of participants who declare the importance of local, small-scale agriculture to assuring food sovereignty. Finally, as many parts of Africa are currently experiencing floods, we look at how farmers and communities in Mozambique are coping.

If you have an opinion to share about an issue currently facing small-scale farmers or rural communities, you won’t want to miss this week’s Farm Radio Action. In this section, you’ll find details on how to become a guest editorialist for Farm Radio Weekly. And don’t forget that you can always share your views on this week’s news stories by posting a comment on the FRW website (http://weekly.farmradio.org/).

Happy reading!

-The Farm Radio Weekly Team

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African Farm News in Review

1. Rwanda: Processing bananas changes lives in Rwanda (by Sawa Pius, for Farm Radio Weekly, in Mombasa, Kenya)

2. Africa: Food sovereignty is solution to “food crisis,” says La Via Campesina (Farm Radio Weekly)

3. Mozambique: Preparing for natural disasters (UN Integrated Regional Information Networks)

Upcoming Events

-November 14-17, 2008: International forum on women’s rights and development

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Farm Radio Script of the Week

-Women learn about credit

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For 800 women farmers’ groups in Rwanda, bananas are much more than a nutritious food. These women, affected by HIV and AIDS and the Rwandan genocide, are living happier lives after learning to add value to bananas. They work together to process bananas into beer, wine, and handicrafts, earning money that allows them to send their children to better schools and afford other necessities.

Jean Claude Nasagare is the chairman of Ituze farmers’ group and founder of the Microfinance Banana Exchange Project. Mr. Nasagare was inspired by the potential of bananas to transform lives while attending a conference in Burkina Faso in 2000. He brought the idea back to Rwanda – where bananas have been cultivated for food for many years, but rarely processed into other products.

Women were initially skeptical that bananas could have economic value as something other than food. But, in time, more and more people joined the initiative, and the women began cultivating larger banana crops alongside other food staples. They also learned the art of beekeeping, since honey is a key ingredient in many banana products.

The Microfinance Banana Exchange Project was established to meet the financial needs of women as they expanded their production. Currently, 800 Rwandan women’s groups receive loans through the project. Mr. Nasagarare says the loans help pay for farming equipment such as hoes, plus wages for labourers to till the land.

All participants in the initiative take their banana harvest to the Ituze farmers’ group headquarters, where they each play a role in post-harvest processing. Banana beer is produced from a mixture of sorghum, honey, bananas and sugar. Banana wine is a mixture of bananas, millet and sugar, which is packed and sealed in glass bottles.

The women also produce a number of handicrafts from banana fibres, including baskets, handbags, hats, and tablemats. Most of the products are sold on the European market. Most importantly, the farmers enjoy direct benefits from the income.

The women are able to pay back their micro-loans and keep money to support their families. Mr.Nasagarare says that mothers are able to send their children to good schools because they can afford the fees. They can also afford medical costs and other essentials that improve their standard of living.

The initiative continues to grow. Participants now train other women to grow bananas and produce banana products, which now have a ready market. The project has expanded to Burundi.

Mr. Nasagare says the next step will be exploring the potential to turn banana waste into a biogas for fuel.

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Alfonsine Mguba is a farmer in western Democratic Republic of the Congo. In the sandy earth of Kinkole, she struggles to grow groundnuts. When it comes time to harvest them, all she finds is small grains. Fortunately, that’s not the only crop she grows. Ms. Mguba also cultivates okra, eggplants, and tomatoes.

Ms. Mguba is a member of the Confédération Paysanne du Congo, also known as Copaco. According to Ms. Mguba, Congolese farmers are not affected by the so-called “food crisis,” because they produce enough to eat. She was one of 600 representatives from farmer organizations and other groups who gathered last week in Mozambique for La Via Campesina’s international conference.

La Via Campesina is an international peasant movement with members in 56 countries. The dramatic rise in food prices commonly referred to as the “food crisis” was among the topics of discussion at its conference. Representatives and delegates at the conference spoke with Farm Radio Weekly, emphasizing the importance of food sovereignty and local farmers’ solutions.

Ibrahim Coulibaly is a farmer and livestock keeper. He is also a representative of La Via Campesina in Mali. Mr. Coulibaly says that, with soaring food prices, crop diversification is an essential strategy for African farmers. But he also stresses that governments must do their part to support local agriculture.

Cosma Vufu is one of the women farmers who participated in the conference. Ms. Vufu lives in Lindi, Tanzania. On her five acres of land, she grows cashews, groundnuts and maize. She also keeps hens and two cows, from which she gathers eggs and milk for sale. Ms. Vufu is a member of the board of directors for Mviwata, a national network of Tanzanian rural organizations. Mviwata works to help farmers demand their rights and pressure the Tanzanian government to invest more money in agriculture.

The struggle to increase government investment in agriculture is one that Mr. Coulibaly knows well. According to Mr. Coulibaly, the real crisis is the dependence of cities on imported foods, but African governments do not have the courage to speak about this reality. He says that governments have preferred to subsidize imported food, believing this will avoid food riots. Mr. Coulibaly maintains that long-term policies to develop local agriculture would ensure food supplies and encourage political stability.

Ms. Mguba stressed the value of farmers working together in cooperatives to overcome challenges. She says that, in her area of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the problem is the cost of transporting crops from the countryside to the city on poor roads. Copaco helped farmers to organize themselves into cooperatives, allowing farmers to designate one or two members to transport the group’s produce to the city for sale. She says that these sorts of concrete initiatives help farmers to survive by saving them time and money.

Tags: food sovereignty, La Via Campesina

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Manuel Fanso only sees his family once a week. The other six days he spends fishing on the Zambezi River. He sells some of the fish by the river. The rest he takes to Mopeia, in Central Mozambique, where his wife, children, and mother live.

Mr. Fanso and his family used to live together on a small farm near the Zambezi River. Last year, the family farm was flooded. Though they had little rice to harvest, they were better off than some families, who lost all of their crops. Since then, the Mozambican government has resettled those who lived in flood-prone areas to safer ground. Mr. Fanso says his family will never build a house there again because the floods come too quickly to the area.

Floods have occurred in many parts of Africa over the past month, including Burundi, Kenya, Mali, and Rwanda, disrupting the lives and livelihoods of countless farmers. Other countries, including Cameroon and Chad, have been warned that floods may accompany the onset of their rainy season. Extreme weather events such as flooding are occurring more frequently as a result of climate change, forcing more and more farmers like Mr. Fanso to change their practices in order to cope.

Alexandre Tique is a meteorologist at Mozambique’s National Meteorological Institute. He says that statistics show an upward trend in natural disasters. Tropical cyclones and floods occur more often, but so do droughts. This can be disastrous for farmers, who may move closer to the river during dry periods, only to be hit by floods when the rains come.

Mr. Tique also notes that, since most Mozambicans live in sparsely-populated rural areas, warning people about impending natural disasters is a challenge. However, community groups are coming together to meet this challenge, and mitigate the loss of life and property.

Arlinda Cunah is preparing for the cyclone season in the village of Chilembende. Each day, she turns on her solar-powered radio and listens for flood or cyclone warnings. Ms. Cunah and other volunteers in her village have a plan in place if they do hear a warning. First, she calls her neighbours to tune into the radio and listen to the warnings. Then, she notifies the community leader, who keeps the warning flags, whistles, and a bicycle. The volunteers walk and cycle through the village with whistles and flags, until everyone has been warned. According to Ms. Cunah, the people already know what actions to take, as they have been educated in advance. For example, if a cyclone is coming, villagers know safe places to take cover.

For his part, Mr. Fanso knows that when the heavy rains come, he will likely have to leave the Zambezi River for one or two months. But when the flooding recedes, he will return to the river to make his living.

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Post-harvest processing is an important way for farmers to add value to their crops and boost their incomes. For more examples of farmers adding value to their crops, see the following FRW stories:
-“Women farmers process cassava to improve their livelihoods”
-“Adding value sweetens profits for honey producers”
For other related scripts, visit the Farm Radio International script bank on food processing and storage: http://www.farmradio.org/english/radio-scripts/food.asp.

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La Via Campesina describes itself as “the international movement of peasants, small- and medium-sized producers, landless, rural women, indigenous people, rural youth and agricultural workers.” The organization includes members from 56 countries in Asia, Africa, Europe, and the Americas. The principal objective of La Via Campesina is to develop solidarity and unity among small farmer organizations in order to promote gender parity and social justice in fair economic relations; the preservation of land, water, seeds and other natural resources; food sovereignty; and sustainable agricultural production based on small- and medium-sized producers.

For more information on La Via Campesina, including reports from its international conference in Mozambique, visit: http://www.viacampesina.org/main_en/index.php?option=com_frontpage&Itemid=1.

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As this story illustrates, radio organizations play a vital role in informing the public about impending natural disasters. The importance of a radio station’s connection with people – your listeners – when a disaster approaches cannot be overstated. Be clear about your objectives when warning of disasters. Know the messages you want to convey. And use your creativity to make your programs as effective as possible.

Here are some ideas to increase your effectiveness in broadcasting information on disaster preparedness:
-Tell your audience about the importance of food security and farmers, especially in times of natural disaster. Promote the crucial role of farmers in coping with disaster, and give them the status they deserve.
-Develop programs aimed at shifting people’s preferences away from imported food, especially during times of disaster. Use your programs to promote and stimulate demand for locally-grown food.
-Establish rural phone “hot lines” before and during disasters. Use the hot lines as part of live call-in programs.
-Ask popular artists and singers to lend their names to radio campaigns about disaster preparedness and mitigation. Invite the artists to appear and be interviewed on your programs.
-Organize popular music and song competitions. Make the connection between “culture” and “agriculture.”
-Highlight the cost of disasters to farmers and agricultural production as well as to the country as a whole. Invite representatives from government (for example, the Ministries of Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries) and from NGOs to participate in educating the general public.

Adapted from ” Communicating hurricane preparedness for agriculture, forestry and fisheries in the Caribbean,” by Maria Protz, in SD Dimensions, July, 1999, Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), Rome, Italy. http://www.fao.org/sd/Cddirect/CDan0028.htm

You may also wish to review scripts on disaster preparation, mitigation and management, from Farm Radio International Package 64. These scripts can be found online at: http://www.farmradio.org/english/radio-scripts/numerical.asp (scroll down to scripts from Package 64).

Does your radio organization produce programs on disaster preparedness? Do you receive and broadcast warnings about floods or other natural disasters? If so, why not post a comment to this news story, sharing your experience with other FRW subscribers.

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The Association for Women’s Rights in Development (AWID) will host an international forum from November 14-17, 2008, in Cape Town, South Africa. Up to 1,500 women’s rights leaders and activists from around the world will come together to discuss the power of movements.

The forum includes plenary speeches, interactive sessions, workshops, debates, and creative sessions, as well as informal caucuses, gala events, cultural activities, and social and political events geared to global and regional networking and alliance building. The organizers say that participants will not only empower themselves with new tools and resources, but will also, collectively, re-politicize the gender and development community, strengthen alliances between women, and engage in work that is geared to “powerful thinking on gender equality and women’s human rights.”

Participation in the AWID Forum is open to anyone who works with or has an interest in women’s rights, international development, and social justice. AWID particularly welcomes women and men from the global south, young women, and marginalized groups that have had difficulty getting their agenda heard on a global stage. For more information: http://www.awid.org/forum08/.

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The Association for Women’s Rights in Development (AWID) will host an international forum from November 14-17, 2008, in Cape Town, South Africa. Up to 1,500 women’s rights leaders and activists from around the world will come together to discuss the power of movements.

The forum includes plenary speeches, interactive sessions, workshops, debates, and creative sessions, as well as informal caucuses, gala events, cultural activities, and social and political events geared to global and regional networking and alliance building. The organizers say that participants will not only empower themselves with new tools and resources, but will also, collectively, re-politicize the gender and development community, strengthen alliances between women, and engage in work that is geared to “powerful thinking on gender equality and women’s human rights.”

Participation in the AWID Forum is open to anyone who works with or has an interest in women’s rights, international development, and social justice. AWID particularly welcomes women and men from the global south, young women, and marginalized groups that have had difficulty getting their agenda heard on a global stage. For more information: http://www.awid.org/forum08/.

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Farm Radio Weekly wants to hear your opinions on issues faced by African small-scale farmers and rural communities! In the coming weeks, Farm Radio Weekly will begin publishing guest editorials. These editorials will be drawn from African publications and from you, the FRW subscribers. If you have an idea for an editorial, please e-mail FRW Editor Heather Miller at: hmiller@farmradio.org. Or, if you read a great editorial in an African publication, send it to Heather, and we will consider re-printing it in FRW. We look forward to hearing from you!

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Micro-credit loans can play a strong role in improving livelihoods, as illustrated in this week’s news story by Sawa Pius. Micro-credit lending organizations are typically established to provide loans to people who cannot access credit from traditional banks. Like the Rwandan women who borrowed money to establish small banana-processing operations, micro-credit lending can often help people to start a small business.

In this week’s featured script, two women discuss different types of micro-credit loan systems and how they work. You can find this script online at: http://www.farmradio.org/english/radio-scripts/57-3script_en.asp. This script is part of a three-part series on women and credit. The other two scripts are “Women start a revolving loan fund” and “Women set up a purchasing and marketing cooperative”.

Characters

Narrator: Program host.
Sylvia: Woman farmer.
Joyce: Woman farmer, Sylvia’s friend.

Program host: Like many of the women in our audience, Sylvia farms a small plot of land and uses most of the food she grows to feed her family. Sylvia would like to sell vegetables at the local market to make a little extra money, but she doesn’t grow enough to feed her family and sell at the market.

Do you have the same problem? Would you like to earn an income by selling some of your produce at the market? Today’s program is about credit — or borrowing money — and how it can help you to make more money from your farm. Let’s join Sylvia and her friend, Joyce, as they discuss micro-credit programs for women.

MUSICAL BREAK.

Sylvia: I am a hard-working farmer, but I am not able to get ahead! When I am in the market, I notice that there is a lot of demand for vegetables, but I do not grow enough to sell at the market! If I had a water pump for my vegetable plot, I could grow more vegetables. But I will never save enough money to buy a water pump!

Joyce: I agree a water pump would be a good idea. It sounds like you could use some credit to help you improve your farm.

Sylvia: I don’t know very much about credit.

Joyce: Well, credit is money that you borrow from a bank or credit union. When you receive the money, you agree to pay it back over a certain period of time. You also pay an extra charge for using the money. The extra charge is called interest.

Sylvia: Oh, I tried to borrow money from the bank, but I was refused. It was difficult to fill out the application because I can’t read. Then the loan officer told me that I couldn’t borrow money because I don’t own any livestock or land, or anything of value that the bank could take if I wasn’t able to repay the money. I only wanted a small amount of money!

Joyce: Don’t give up. There are other ways that you can borrow money. Have you heard about micro-credit programs?

Sylvia: Is micro-credit different from borrowing money from the bank?

Joyce: Micro-credit programs lend small amounts of money with lower interest payments. They are to help women earn extra money. There are micro-credit programs for women all over the world. Some are organized by local banks. Others are organized by rural organizations. And there are many micro-credit programs started by women like us!

Sylvia: Lower interest payments would be very helpful! I borrowed from a money lender in the village who charged me twenty percent interest. It was very difficult to repay the money and the interest. But if I don’t have any livestock or title to my land, how can I borrow money?

Joyce: The Grameen Bank in Bangladesh is a successful credit program that uses group encouragement to make sure the money is repaid. Women form credit groups of five people. If one woman in the credit group does not pay back the money she borrowed, the other four will not be able to borrow money. This is called group liability.

Sylvia: That may work for them. But why would other women in my village want to join a credit group with me?

Joyce: Each woman in the credit group will take a turn borrowing money. Think about how much you would benefit if you were able to purchase a water pump. You would be able to repay the money by selling more vegetables in the market.

Sylvia: I know that I would encourage other women in my credit group to repay their loans so that everyone could improve their farms.

Sylvia: (Sylvia’s excitement suddenly turns to worry) But I have no experience handling credit! What if I cannot repay the money?

Joyce: Women everywhere have faced difficulties, but they have shown they can manage. Don’t be afraid to try.

You should first discuss the idea of borrowing money with your husband and your family. Explain to them that it would help you raise the family income. If you have their support, it will be much easier to succeed.

But before you borrow the money, do some careful planning. Decide how you will spend the money and how you will repay it. Decide how much money you will spend to get your vegetable stall going. You will have to set a price for your vegetables that will earn enough money to repay the loan.

Don’t borrow too much money. It may take you several weeks before you are able to repay it.

Sylvia: Well, perhaps with a good plan and support from other women, I can succeed. I would like to find out more information about micro-credit programs in our area. Can you help?

Joyce: Let’s ask our friends and neighbours in the village and then go to the health clinic or the school for more information.

Sylvia: Perhaps we can start our own women’s bank with our neighbours!

- END -

Acknowledgements
Contributed by: Noelle Grosse, Researcher/Writer, Canada.

Information Sources
-“Gender and microfinance: guidelines for good governance,” Susan Johnson, Centre for Development Studies, University of Bath, UK, BA2 7AY.
-“The Grameen Bank and Women in Bangladesh,” Abu Wahid, Challenge, Sept/Oct. 1999, pp. 94-101.
-MicroStart — A Guide for Planning, Starting and Managing a Microfinance Programme (Version 1.0), United Nations Development Programme, 1997.
-The Virtual Library on Microcredit

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