Notes to broadcasters on traditional crops:
Date Posted: June 23rd, 2008
The FRW staff enjoyed an exceptional opportunity, as we heard first-hand stories of African farmers adapting to climate change. Mr. Mukusya, Mr. Fofana, and Dr. Rachel Bezner Kerr were brought to Ottawa, Canada by a coalition of Canadian NGOs that are deeply concerned about how climate change is affecting the livelihoods of farmers across Africa. It was fascinating to learn about the effective (and often simple) techniques that farmers are using to ensure crop production in the face of increasingly unpredictable weather patterns.
Perhaps you would like to invite farmers in your area to share their experiences of adapting to climate change? Some questions you might ask as part of a call-in show or as research for a news piece are:
-what changes have farmers noticed in local weather patterns over the past several years (e.g. the time that the rainy season starts, the amount of rain that falls, the overall temperature, etc.)?
-have they made any changes to the kinds of crops that they plant or the time that they plant their crops in order to adapt to these climate changes?
-what sorts of soil and water management techniques are farmers using to cope with changing rain and temperature patterns?
-what measures are community groups taking to prepare for natural disasters such as droughts or floods?
If you develop a local news story – or have an idea for a local news story – on the subject of farmers adapting to climate change, we would love to hear about it! Please e-mail FRW editor Heather Miller at hmiller@farmradio.org to discuss how you can contribute an article to News in Review.
There are also a number of Farm Radio International scripts available on the subject of traditional crops and climate change. For example, you may wish to look at the script Choosing Crops for Drought-Prone Areas (Package 73, Script 3, January 2005) or even The Long Dry Season: A Tale of Greed and Resourcefulness, a 13-part radio drama produced and written by the African Radio Drama Association (Package 77, March 2006). Please also look for a script on fonio, a traditional grain from Western Africa, in the script package mailed to Farm Radio International partners this month.
