Issue #79

We extend a special welcome to FRW’s newest subscribers: Oscar Kossoko, from Lycée Technique Agricole in Bénin; Clémentine N’da from Mudesnat in Côte d’Ivoire; and Barry Mamoudou Ousseni from Radio Yéelen and Daouda Dembele from Radio Fanaka, both in Mali.

We would like to remind all of our readers of the interactive component of FRW’s website (http://weekly.farmradio.org/). When you browse the website, you can click on the “post a comment” link directly below any article. This will allow you to share your thoughts with other readers. For example, Mr. Ongom Patrick Obia recently commented on a news story about a group of Ugandan women turning a good profit selling pumpkins. “I am so impressed by what this women[‘s] group (Nkokonjeru Women’s Savings and Credit Project) have initiated…this group has proved to us that when given attention, pumpkins can be good food security crop as well as household income source. Big thanks to the women[’s] group, please continue, and to the rest – farming is really a business, let us embrace it.”

We look forward to reading your comments on this week’s news stories. First, we have a story from eastern Kenya, where farmers have been coping with unreliable rains. We learn that the farmers have been struggling to get good maize harvests, but drought resistant pigeon peas are offering hope for improved food security. Our second story comes from northern Ghana, where some farmers have embraced silk farming as an additional source of income.

Remember to scroll down to the Upcoming Events and Radio Resource Bank sections to hear about some new opportunities for broadcasters. And for a glimpse into Farm Radio International’s history, turn to the Farm Radio Action section where you can listen to Farm Radio’s very first script, which was recorded and broadcast 30 years ago.

Happy reading!

-The Farm Radio Weekly Team

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African Farm News in Review

1. Kenya: New pigeon pea varieties help farmers cope with unreliable rains (IRIN, ICRISAT)

2. Ghana: Spinning a new type of crop (Spore, The Financial Express)

Upcoming Events

-September 4, 2009: Deadline to submit works to 30th annual Global Media Awards

Radio Resource Bank

-News University offers online training for journalists, editors, and managers

Farm Radio Action

-A trip back to 1979 – Farm Radio Audio Tape #1

Farm Radio Script of the Week

-Sekedo, a drought resistant sorghum for Karamoja

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Harrieta Nyaga is a maize farmer in Kenya’s eastern district of Mbeere South. She speaks of the difficulties her community has faced because of unreliable rains. The rains have become scarce, she says. This is the fourth year of insufficient rain.

When the rains do come, they can be unpredictable. Farmers expect the long rains to begin in March. At this time, they normally plant their maize. But this year the rains started in January, and farmers didn’t know what to do. Some planted maize and others did not.

The farmers of Mbeere South had another poor maize harvest. Ms. Nyaga normally harvests 20 large bags of maize. But this year, her field only yielded two. Now, farmers in the area are trying a new staple crop. Drought resistant pigeon peas are more resilient and offer hope for more reliable harvests.

Pigeon pea is a versatile crop. The pea itself is a high protein staple, while the pod is eaten as a vegetable. The green leaves are quality fodder and dry stems are used for fuel.

Pigeon pea is also naturally hardy, drought resistant, and grows in a range of environments. New varieties of pigeon pea developed by the International Crop Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics offer even more. They are quick maturing and can be harvested after only 120 days. As a result, they do not rely on a second rainy season.

Richard Jones is assistant director for the crop research institute. He explains that a farmer can get a harvest of pigeon pea during the short rains at the end of the year. If there is a second rainy season, farmers can collect a second harvest.

Farmers in Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Malawi, and Mozambique are all experimenting with the drought resistant pigeon peas. By growing pigeon pea in addition to maize and other crops, they improve their food security. Carol Maringa is another farmer in Kenya’s Mbeere South district. She says that growing pigeon pea was not labour intensive. Normally, she needs fertilizer for her maize. But she was able to get a good crop of pigeon pea without fertilizer. She plans to plant more pigeon pea next season.

For farmers who were struggling to produce enough maize for their families, the drought resistant pigeon pea has come as a relief. John Ngari used to look for beans to mix with maize to make stew. He says the first harvest of pigeon pea really helped his family. They have enough to eat and plan to plant more pigeon pea and less maize in the future.

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Most farmers hate to see bugs crawling on their crops. But silk farmers actually encourage it. They grow mulberry trees especially for silkworms, and encourage the bugs to feast on the leaves. Since silk farming was introduced to Ghana in 1992, many farmers have planted mulberry trees to try the venture.

Iddrisu Lindowo is one of them. He’s the chairman of the Kpaliga Tree Growers’ Association in northern Ghana. He explains the process of growing silk worms.

Mr. Lindowo receives boxes of eggs at the beginning of the rainy season. The eggs are supplied through an outreach program at Ghana’s University for Development Studies. Each box contains more than 20,000 silkworm eggs. In the months to come, Mr. Lindowo will coax each egg to develop into a silk worm. In time, each worm will spin a cocoon. Cocoons are sold to a local factory for five American dollars (about 3.5 Euros) per kilogram.

Farmers in regions across the country supplement their incomes in this way. By nurturing valuable silk worms one by one, they are putting Ghana on track to emerge as a major silk producer on the level of China and India.

Raising economically beneficial insects can be a surprisingly lucrative business for African farmers. These scripts and FRW news stories prove that bugs aren’t always a farmer’s foe:

-Butterfly farming generates income for rural community and protects the forest (Package 87, Script 2, April 2009): http://farmradio.org/english/radio-scripts/87-2script_en.asp
-“Kenya: Butterfly farming takes wing” (FRW#17, April 2008)
-“Uganda: Beekeeping and tree farming go hand-in-hand” (FRW#43, November 2008)
-Archive of Farm Radio International scripts on livestock and beekeeping: http://farmradio.org/english/radio-scripts/livestock.asp

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Climate change is often spoken about on a global scale. But to see the impact of climate change on everyday life, one need look no further than average farmers. In this week’s news story, we see how farmers in eastern Kenya are re-thinking crop choices to cope with uncertain rain patterns. In a previous issue of FRW, we saw how farmers in Benin faced a similar challenge, as they can no longer predict the timing of dry and rainy seasons (http://weekly.farmradio.org/2008/06/30/benin-farmers-learn-to-work-with-an-uncertain-climate-farm-radio-weekly-international-development-research-centre/). In that same issue, we examined how livestock farmers in western Zimbabwe were coping with climatic changes which mean that they can no longer depend on rain-fed pastures (http://weekly.farmradio.org/2008/06/30/zimbabwe-livestock-farmers-adapt-to-new-climate-zimbabwe-standard/).
For more information and resources on coping the climate change, consider the following Farm Radio International scripts:
-Choosing crops for drought prone areas (Package 73, Script 3, January 2005)
-Supply water directly to plant roots with pitcher and drip irrigation (Package 71, Script 10, June 2004)
-Farmer Phiri uses infiltration pits to combat drought (Package 64, Script 6, July 2002)
-The role of native breeds in maintaining livestock health: Story ideas for the radio (Package 63, Script 3, April 2002)
-Dr. Compost talks about compost piles (Package 61, Script 6, October 2001)
-A farmer practices zero grazing (Package 51, Script 3, February 1999)

You may also consider producing a call-in and text-in show, or a locally researched news story, on one or both of the following topics:

1) Local climate change observations:
-What differences in seasonal temperature and rainfall patterns have people observed?
-Have floods and/or droughts been more frequent in the last 20-30 years than in previous decades?
-What differences in soil properties have been seen in recent decades?
-What changes in vegetation, including crops, pasture, and wild plants?

2) Local adaptation techniques:
-What crops have farmers struggled with, and which have proven well suited to these new conditions?
-What sorts of feeding and care techniques have livestock farmers used to cope with new conditions?
-What steps have farmers used to prevent flooding and make the best use of available water?
-What other steps have farmers taken to maintain food security when facing severe drought or floods?

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The Population Institute, an American NGO, is calling all journalists, authors, editors, filmmakers, electronic game designers, and other media professionals to submit their work for the 30th annual Global Media Awards.
The works can come in many forms – an article, a series of articles, a book, radio show, film, online news service, TV show, editorial cartoon or mini-series, electronic or online game, among others – and should raise awareness of population problems.

The work must have been published or aired between September 1, 2008 and August 31, 2009. Winners will receive their award as part of an all-expense paid trip to Washington, United States.
For more information, contact Jennie Wetter at jwetter@populationinstitute.org  or visit http://www.populationinstitute.org/programs/gma.

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News University offers online courses for journalists, editors, and newsroom managers interested in honing their craft and learning new techniques. More than 85 courses are available, including Telling Stories with Sound; Reporting Global Issues Locally, and Twitter for Journalists. Technical guides for many common software programs are also included.

Internews, an international media NGO, is now offering a special incentive for media professionals who register for News University. New registrants will be entered in one of four draws for a Flip Video Ultra 60-minute camcorder. To be entered in the draw, go to the News University website and register for a course. Be sure to choose “Internews” as the answer to “How did you hear about NewsU”? Upcoming draw deadlines are: September 15, 2009; December 15, 2009; and March 15, 2010.

-To register for News University, go to: http://www.newsu.org/profile/ .
-To browse News University’s courses, visit: http://www.newsu.org/courses/course_list.aspx .

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As Farm Radio International continues to celebrate its 30th anniversary, we invite you to take a trip way back to 1979 when Farm Radio International (then called Developing Countries Farm Radio Network) began. Based on the idea that smallholder farmers throughout Africa could benefit greatly by receiving timely and accurate farming information over the radio, George Atkins (founder and former director of DCFRN) set out to provide an invaluable service to broadcasters across the continent and beyond.

Farm Radio International now provides farming information and training resources for African radio broadcasters via hard copy scripts, online through Farm Radio Weekly, and through online learning courses and competitions. But it wasn’t always this way…

When the organization first began, George Atkins himself would sit down in a studio and read radio scripts aloud (many of them written by him), recording the “broadcast” on a cassette tape. For years, DCFRN archived this information and sent it out across the world as a reference material for rural radio broadcasters. While this is no longer common practice at Farm Radio International, it is great to look back at the history of how our small organization began, and get a glimpse of the extraordinary vision that George had, even in those early days.

For our 30th anniversary, we decided to dig into the archives and digitize some of these old recordings. Please listen to a clip from the very first script package recorded by George Atkins in 1979 for DCFRN, which was then supported by the Canadian International Development Agency, Massey Ferguson, and Guelph University.

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One aspect of climate change that African farmers must cope with is increasingly unreliable rainy seasons. One effective coping strategy is to use drought-resistant, fast-maturing crop varieties.

In this script, we hear from a farmer in the Karamoja Region of northeastern Uganda, who explains that “lack of rain and too much sunshine” made it difficult for him to grow traditional sorghum. He describes his experience with drought-resistant seeds.

To view this script online, go to: http://www.farmradio.org/english/radio-scripts/84-1script_en.asp.

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