Issue #126

In August this year, we brought you a news story from DRC regarding land ownership (Issue 122 of Farm Radio Weekly).  Our story this week shows some of the potential impacts when refugees return to land they once owned or farmed. Farmers everywhere need to guard against crops being stolen, but land and general security issues in DRC make the situation more complex. Crop and livestock theft is more common in times of food insecurity, crisis or natural disaster.

The story from August can be accessed via this link: http://weekly.farmradio.org/2010/08/02/drc-addressing-land-disputes-through-decentralization-and-mediation-syfia-grands-lacs-irin/.

For an overview of the conflict in DRC, go to: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-11108589. 

This Farm Radio International Action piece highlights the work of Radio Maendeleo in DRC and describes their work on peace and development issues since the peace agreement was signed: http://weekly.farmradio.org/2008/02/18/radio-maendeleo-%E2%80%9Cclubs%E2%80%9D-encourage-peace-and-development-in-eastern-congo/.

This Farm Radio Weekly story from DRC discusses rebuilding the fish industry and how theft was an issue to be overcome: http://weekly.farmradio.org/2008/08/25/3-democratic-republic-of-the-congo-a-country-that-loves-fish-rebuilds-its-fish-industry-toronto-star-world-bank/.

Another Farm Radio Weekly story covers the issue of women farmers being attacked by armed forces in DRC:  http://weekly.farmradio.org/2009/03/02/3-drc-women-farmers-who-are-victims-of-rape-cannot-return-to-their-lands-because-of-the-armed-forces-agro-radio-hebdo-women%E2%80%99s-enews-radiookapinet/.

You may wish to refer to scripts from Farm Radio’s package 67, June 2003, for more information on how communities can work together to re-establish food security following a conflict. Scroll down this page: http://farmradio.org/english/radio-scripts/numerical.asp.

If you wish to explore the subject of theft and food security in your area, here are some questions that may help you start:

-How common is crop or livestock theft in your broadcast area? Are the thefts opportunistic, or is there an identifiable reason behind them, such as conflict or famine?

-How do farmers protect their fields and animals against theft?

-Is theft an issue which the entire community addresses, or are farmers left alone to manage and deal with their loss as well as the fear of further theft?  
-What methods do communities in your broadcast area use to resolve disputes? Can you find an example of a community that resolved an important dispute?

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We are very happy to welcome more new subscribers to Farm Radio Weekly this week: Aboubakar Mbohou, from Eden Radio, Marie Naha from AGRO-PME and Fritz Eyok, all in Cameroon; Rachel Awuor Adipo, from Ugunja Community Resource Centre and Festus Akalongo from Namasoli Health Centre, both in Kenya and John Jerry from ABACC RADIO, in Ghana.

We present another story specially written for our soil health series, contributed by Sawa Pius from Uganda. He reports from a village on the slopes of Mount Elgon, in the east of Uganda. Farmers have put stone barriers in place to stop the rain washing their soils downhill.

Our script of the week is on the same topic. Written as a mini-drama, farmers in Burkina Faso describe how they worked together to position stone barriers across their sloping farmland. We hope these resources inspire you in your programming on soil health issues.

Our second story comes from Tanzania. Having secured external support, a community decided to rehabilitate their warehouse. They succeeded in removing one of the main constraints to selling their maize. With a new warehouse and a warehouse receipt system in place, farmers are set to increase production and can now look for buyers.

Lastly, we bring highlights from a new report by Friends of the Earth. The report looks at how much African land has been acquired by foreign investors to plant agrofuel crops. It examines the potential effects on small-scale farmers and their livelihoods.

We are always keen to hear from our subscribers. So if you have opinions, reactions or experiences related to these news items, please send them to us at farmradioweekly@farmradio.org and we will publish some of your messages in the coming weeks.

This week many of our subscribers will mark the end of Ramadan, so we would like to wish them all a happy Eid ul-Fitr!

Happy broadcasting!

-The Farm Radio Weekly Team

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African Farm News in Review

1.Uganda: Farmers adopt contour farming and plant trees on the slopes of Mount Elgon (by Sawa Pius, for Farm Radio Weekly, in Uganda)

2. Tanzania: A renovated warehouse brings new opportunities (New Agriculturist, with additional information from Hendry Mziray, in Tanzania)

3. Africa: Land for food or fuel? (Friends of the Earth, 20minutes.fr, ProNatura/SWISSAID)

Upcoming Events

-FAIR African Investigative Journalism Award: Deadline 30th September 2010

Radio Resource Bank

-BBC College of Journalism website

Farm Radio Action

-The Smallholders Foundation wins Equator Prize!

Farm Radio Script of the Week

-Soil conservation with stone barriers

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The slopes of Samuel Bwayo’s farm are sprinkled with lines of stones. He places piles of stones and heaps of grass along the contour lines. Contour lines are imaginary lines which connect the parts of a sloping field which are at the same height. The lines help him trap the soil and prevent it from being washed downhill. With contour lines, Mr. Bwayo now harvests a reasonable yield of maize, beans, ground nuts, cassava and millet.

Mr. Bwayo lives in Kitsi village, Manafwa District, in eastern Uganda. The village is located on the slopes of Mount Elgon. He is a member of Kitsi Farmers NGO, known as KIFANGO. KIFANGO has 83 farmer members, including 53 women. Living on the slopes of Mount Elgon, they have developed new ways of growing crops.

The surrounding hills are bare and without trees. For many years, residents cut them for charcoal, firewood and construction. Now the farmers face poor soils and a shortage of rains. As a consequence, yields have dropped.

Felix Kusolo is a community development officer. “Before 1980, the hills were healthy; there was no soil erosion, because there were enough trees to hold the soil,” he says. “The population in this area has more than doubled, so people have to find more land for cultivation, and the only place is to clear the forests.”

Mr. Bwayo’s neighbour is facing serious soil erosion. It is devastating his crop production. In some parts of the farm, all the soil has been washed downhill, leaving wide gullies. Mr. Bwayo is an experienced farmer. He says his neighbour is experiencing gully erosion. “It started as rill erosion and now it has become gully erosion. Rill erosion is on a small area, but [a] gully is wide.”

Mr. Bwayo says his neighbour should make contour lines on his farm to avoid the problem. He makes his own contours from piles of stones and grass placed across the slope on the farm. He would advise his neighbour to make small plots, separated by these contours.Mr. Bwayo says his neighbour, and others who have not adopted contour farming, have to learn the hard way. “If you tell them to make contours, they don’t listen. But when they get a loss in crop yields, due to soil erosion, they will remember to make contours next time.”

John Sam Kundu is adopting both contour lines and tree planting on his farm. He says that when he started farming this land, there were no trees at all. He says, “Now I have to maintain the soil fertility by making contours, and planting trees.”

Mr. Kundu has planted indigenous trees on his farm. He only knows their name in his local language of Lugisu. He says the indigenous trees do better than exotic types.

“When you cut the local trees, they start producing branches right from the ground. They have bigger leaves. And as they grow, they quickly start shedding the leaves which decompose, maintaining the soil fertility.”

Peter Masika is the area forest officer. He says efforts to distribute local tree seedlings to the farmers are continuing.

Mr. Masika says the farmers are re-introducing coffee. This used to be a favorite crop on the slopes of Mount Elgon. He says coffee growing will work together with the native tree species to help improve the soils and bring back the rains.

For more information and resources on compost and soil fertility, please refer to the Soil Health Issue Pack, July 2010: http://farmradio.org/english/radio-scripts/91-9script_en.asp.

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In the past, farmers in King’ori village, Meru District, northern Tanzania, received low prices for their maize. One reason was the poor condition of their warehouse. This meant that they could not store grain while waiting for prices to rise. Now, the newly renovated building carries the hopes of farmers like Mr. Ndetainya Nnko, who says, “Since farmers can store maize … for the coming seasons I expect to double production of maize.”

Hendry Mziray is the coordinator of Tanzania Agricultural Partnership, or TAP, for Meru District. When he saw the warehouse in King’ori village, he spotted a chance to turn waste into opportunity. The warehouse is owned by the villagers. It needed fewer repairs than other warehouses in the district. Mr. Mziray says the spirit of the residents was also encouraging: “This community was different. They were ready to move.”

Mr. Mziray found a willing public sector partner in the District Agriculture and Livestock Development Officer, or DALDO. Dr. Amani Sanga is acting DALDO of Meru District. He says, “Renovating King’ori warehouse through a public-private partnership was an opportunity to us. We had a chance to show that we can deliver.” DALDO topped up the budget Mziray received from the Tanzania Agricultural Partnership. The residents of King’ori contributed with sand, wood and labour.

By harvest time in 2009, the warehouse was ready. It was soon storing half of its capacity, holding 71 tons of maize. In the meantime, Mr. Mziray had set up another partnership with FERT, a French NGO working to strengthen Tanzania’s network of Savings and Credit Cooperative Societies, or SACCOS.

Within a month of their meeting, FERT had trained the leaders of King’ori’s SACCOS how to run warehouse receipt systems, and offered loans on stored grain. “It was a good opportunity and it was easy,” says FERT’s Marina Abboud. A warehouse receipt system is now in place. In this arrangement, a farmer receives a receipt for depositing their crop in a warehouse. This receipt can then be used to secure a loan.

Mr. Philip. P. Nanyaro, a farmer in King’ori, says, “I thought that the establishment of a warehouse receipt system is the only solution which will enable smallholder farmers to improve their livelihoods by getting better returns from selling maize when prices are good.”

Finding the right buyer for the stored grain has been challenging. A potential deal with the World Food Programme, under their Purchase for Progress initiative, fell through. The SACCOS had to sell the grain at a much lower price than they had hoped for. Mr. Rejael J. Nnko is SACCOS’ Chairman. He says, “To rescue the situation, SACCOS removed the interest rate and storage cost.” He says that SACCOS and FERT decided to top up the selling price so that farmers received a small profit. They are now looking for other markets and tendering opportunities.

Despite this setback, the farmers are satisfied with the warehouse. They also appreciate the partnership approach, and the transparency this brings to the process. “[The] Establishment of a warehouse receipt system by TAP in collaboration with King’ori SACCOS, FERT and Meru district council has significant impact to King’ori community,” says Mrs. Martha E. Palanjo, a farmer.

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According to a new report by Friends of the Earth Europe, around five million hectares of land in Africa has been acquired by foreign investors to grow agrofuel crops. While official information on land acquisitions is scarce, the NGO contends that “…many of the ‘land grabs’ for agrofuel crops involve land previously used for agriculture.”

Friends of the Earth are concerned that non-edible crops are replacing food crops on fertile land. Agrofuel companies are competing with farmers for access to land. Friends of the Earth maintain that “Farmers who switch to agrofuel crops run the risk of being unable to feed their families.” Their report states that demand for agrofuels is driven by the European Union. The EU aims to produce 10% of its transport fuel from agrofuels by 2020.

The report lists the companies which have acquired land to grow agrofuel crops in eleven countries in sub-Saharan Africa. Jatropha is a common agrofuel crop. Sugarcane, cassava and sweet sorghum are also grown for fuel.

Friends of the Earth is particularly concerned about the rights of the people who depend on the land for their livelihood. They believe these rights are often overlooked by large companies. For example, in Ghana, a Norwegian company called BioFuel Africa acquired 38,000 hectares of land in 2008. One farmer told reporters that he first learned of the change in ownership when he went to his plot and discovered other people working there. The chief had signed away the land with his thumbprint. The procedure was later ruled to be illegal.

BioFuel Africa say of their operations in Africa, “We operate under the principle that production can only be sustainable if it is low cost, provides a solid return, and enhances and enriches the lives of its workers and surrounding communities.”

Josam Ndaabona, a farmer from Zambia, says that the situation with jatropha reminds him of cotton. A large company arrived, promising farmers lots of money if they grew cotton. Mr. Ndaabona says, “We stopped growing our maize to make more money from cotton. But when the time to sell it came we were paid very little. We went hungry because we had neglected growing our traditional crop maize.” Similarly, farmers in Mozambique who grow jatropha have reported slow growth rates and low yields.

Many gave up after one year. They did not have time to tend jatropha as well as their food crops.

Many African countries have welcomed investment in their land, hoping it will lead to jobs in rural areas. But in the report, Friends of the Earth argue that Africa’s natural resources are being exploited to provide fuel for Europe, stating, “The result threatens food supplies in poor communities and pushes up the cost of available food.”

Friends of the Earth want communities to participate in decisions to sell or lease local land. The organization recommends that Europe scrap the 10% target for agrofuels, and reduce its fuel consumption. They further recommend that African states suspend investments in agrofuels and invest in food sovereignty and ecological agriculture instead.

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The management of the warehouse receipt system in Tanzania is governed by a law called the Warehouse Receipt Act No. 10 of 2005. In a warehouse receipt system, a farmer, an organization or a processor deposits their commodity in a warehouse. In return, they receive a warehouse receipt showing how much has been deposited, of what quality and in which warehouse. The depositor can then use the warehouse receipt as collateral for a short-term loan. The depositor can then wait until market prices improve before selling the stored goods.

The issuer of the receipt stores the commodity. The issuer is legally required to make good any value lost through theft or damage by fire and other catastrophes.

This is the website for the Tanzanian Agricultural Commodity Receipts System.

More information, examples, and a video on warehouse receipt systems can be found on this site.

About half-way down this webpage is a clear description of how a warehouse receipt system works.

The Warehouse Receipt Act No. 10 of 2005 can be read on this website.

Farm Radio International has produced many scripts on crop storage. You can browse the list here.

Because the warehouse receipt system is relatively new to many countries, a radio program can raise awareness of this idea, and share experiences and examples. Here are some program ideas: -Interview farmers and/or farmers’ groups who have used the system. How did it work for them? What difficulties did they encounter? What were the main benefits of the system?

-Interview warehouse workers and managers. How does the system work in practice? Is it easy to manage? How often do they encounter difficulties? What kind of difficulties occur? Are they easy to resolve? How could the system be improved?

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Friends of the Earth define agrofuels (in contrast to biofuels) as “… the liquid fuels derived from food and oil crops produced in large-scale plantation-style industrial production systems. These agrofuels are blended with petrol and diesel for use primarily as transport fuel. Biofuels on the other hand, refer to the small-scale use of local biomass for fuel.” The word agrofuels is used by some NGOs to highlight the fact that the fuels are produced from agricultural crops. A short note on agrofuels can be read here.

The Friends of the Earth report can be downloaded here.

Here is a newspaper article discussing the report.

In June and July 2009, Farm Radio Weekly ran a series of stories on land grabs and biofuels. There are many resources in our archives. Here, for example, is an overview.

As part of the series, Farm Radio Weekly reported on the case from northern Ghana mentioned in the Friends of the Earth report, in which a chief was not able to read a contract before he signed it with a thumbprint.

Please also refer to a previous Notes to broadcasters here, where you can find references to Farm Radio International scripts and news stories:

On farmland grabbing;

On biofuels and land grabbing;

On land grabbing.

An ongoing database of articles on land grabbing is maintained here.

This is a hot topic and might make a lively debate program. You could consider organizing a text-in show for rural communities to have their say in this debate:

-Are farmers aware of land in their region being used for agrofuels by foreign companies? What do they think about this situation? How can they benefit? What are the drawbacks for them?

-Should their land be leased to outside investors? If not, why not? If yes, why? Would listeners prefer other forms of economic development or support from the government? What would they suggest instead?

-Do listeners have experience working with foreign companies on agrofuels? What are their stories?

-How can growing fuel crops affect the environment? Are the effects positive or negative? How?

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The Forum for African Investigative Reporters (FAIR) is a professional association of investigative journalists in Africa. Part of its role is to help investigative journalists support each other in their work and overcome the obstacles they face.

Each year, FAIR presents the African Investigative Journalism Awards. The awards encompass radio, online, print and TV journalism. The journalistic piece submitted must have been published in print or broadcast on the radio or on TV between 1 July 2009 and 1 July 2010. Applications are accepted in English, French and Portuguese.

There are three FAIR Awards: first prize, runner-up, and the Editors’ Courage Award. The latter is given to an editor who has withstood pressure to (self) censor a good story or program, yet still published or aired the piece.

Three prizes will be awarded: African Investigative Journalism Award EUR 4.000 (about 5,100 American dollars); Runner-up EUR  2.500 (about 3,200 American dollars) and Editors’ Courage Award EUR  3.500 (about 4,500 American dollars)

For full details in English on how to enter, see this website.

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The BBC College of Journalism hosts a website to encourage discussion about journalism. The website features a lot of useful sections, including a blog where BBC journalists share their experiences and practices.

In one posting, Graham Holliday talks about how he prepared to report from Rwanda, what tools he used, and also what he forgot! You can watch the resulting slideshow.

In another blog post, Kevin Marsh, Executive Editor of the BBC College of Journalism, offers tips for listening as a journalist. The website can be accessed as text-only to speed up download times.

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This week, we would like to congratulate The Smallholders Foundation, one of Farm Radio International’s broadcasting partners in Nigeria. They have been awarded one of the 25 Equator Prizes for 2010.

The Equator Initiative awards the Equator Prizes every two years. The prizes highlight leading grassroots efforts which reduce poverty through the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity.

Nnaemeka Ikegwuonu is the Executive Director of The Smallholders Foundation. He took the time to answer some of our questions by e-mail, and tell us more about the work which caught the judge’s attention. The Foundation is based in Owerri, Imo State, southern Nigeria.

FRW: How will the Equator Prize assist in achieving your goals for the Smallholders Foundation?

NI: Our goal is to be known globally as a best practice for rural agricultural development and environmental conservation. The Equator Prize will enable us [to] achieve this because, by becoming a winner we join an elite group of Equator Prize winners, now numbering 128. These groups constitute an influential grassroots movement of local and indigenous best practice in biodiversity conservation and poverty reduction.

Secondly, the Prize will enable us attain enormous international exposure. This is because the Equator Initiative will profile our work and achievements through its Community Summit Dialogue Space. This international exposure will enable The Smallholders Foundation to be recognized by donors, governments, private sector organizations and civil society organizations as a key player in rural agriculture and environmental development. Through such recognition and possible partnership, we will scale up rural radio within the next year to reach 20 million small farmer listeners within the southeastern zone of Nigeria.

FRW: You personally, and the Smallholders Foundation have won various prizes and awards in recent years. What is the secret of your success?

NI: Firstly, we are successful because we adhere strictly to our organizational strategic framework: “The Smallholders Centered Approach – A New Paradigm,” which incidentally we developed ourselves. This framework ensures that all our programs have six characteristics: It must be a groundbreaking innovation that sets the pace for others to follow, it has an output or set of outputs which is defined by the overall goal, it is planned, implemented and evaluated over a clearly demarcated period of time, it has pre-determined inputs of well-defined resources (financial or human) with [a] strict financial control and reporting system, it involves beneficiaries from the design to evaluation stage and it must be sustainable.

Above all, we are very strict on financial transparency and accountability.

Secondly, for the Smallholders Farmers Rural Radio, we are successful because of our team. This is made up of six smallholder farmers who were recruited from radio station immediate listening communities and trained to become radio presenters. They share [a] similar age-long occupation in small plot agriculture, and they are fluent in the local Igbo language and also speak English to be effective in translating radio broadcasting materials. In a nutshell, we are small farmers broadcasting and sharing knowledge with small farmers through the most popular rural communication medium − the radio which speaks the local language.

FRW: What are your plans for the Smallholders Foundation for this year? How are your plans for a radio station in each state of Nigeria going?

NI: Our goal within the next year is to expand the coverage of The Smallholders Farmers Rural Radio to 20 million small farmer listeners in the southeastern region of Nigeria. We wish to cover 95 local government areas in Abia, Anambra, Enugu, Ebonyi and Imo States, all in southeastern Nigeria, reaching 20 million small farmers listeners everyday with agricultural, environmental and market information in the local Igbo Language spoken in the entire region. Furthermore, we will recruit and train additional small farmers to work as radio presenters.

For more information about The Smallholders Foundation, visit: http://www.smallholdersfoundation.org.

For more information about the Equator Initiative and to see the other winners of this year’s Equator Prizes, visit: http://www.equatorinitiative.org/index.php.

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The farmers in this week’s story on soil health used stones and grass to conserve their soils. They found that stone barriers, together with trees, helped to slow soil erosion and improve their yields.

This week’s script, from Burkina Faso, covers the same topic. It is a mini-drama based on actual interviews. It describes how a community decided to use stones to stop the rain washing their soils away. Farmers discuss how difficult the work was at the beginning, but how they came together and worked hard to complete the stone barriers. Over half the farmers in the community now have stone barriers on their sloping land. Read the script here.

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