Farm Radio International Action

The deadline for completing the FRW subscriber survey has been extended to September 1, 2008. This means you have a few extra days to tell us how FRW can best serve your radio organization! The survey is short, but will provide us with valuable feedback that will help shape the future of FRW. It asks questions such as which sections of FRW do you use, which news stories are most relevant and interesting, and what sorts of resources you would like to see in future issues.

If you have not done so already, please visit: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=9HOchcedv077TyFYi_2bXMPQ_3d_3d to complete the survey. If you have started the survey, but did not complete it, you can always return to this link to answer the remainder of the questions.

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For months, we’ve been telling you about the Farm Radio International-CTA scriptwriting competition: “African Farmers’ Strategies for Coping with Climate Change.” Soon, our partners will receive the 15 winning scripts in the mail, and everyone will have access to them online, as Farm Radio International script package 84.

Each script was written by an African broadcaster with the input of local people, especially farmers, and highlights a different African innovation for coping with the effects of climate change. The scripts offer advice on how to retain moisture in soil and prevent deforestation, good seed and fertilizer choices in the face of drought, and managing the changing threats to livestock.

You won’t want to miss these scripts written by Farm Radio Weekly subscribers:
-“Fissel farmers don’t pick up straw after harvesting, a method that protects land from heat,” by Mariama Sy Coulibaly from Afia FM in Senegal
-“Mangoes to the rescue: A local response to climate change,” by Kwabena Agyei from Classic FM in Ghana
-“New rice variety for Africa to save wetlands in Uganda,” by Joshua Kyalimpa from Opsett Media/African Farm Radio Bureau in Uganda

There are also five winning scripts from organizations where there is at least one FRW subscriber:
-“Rainfall retention protects soil,” by Jean-Paul Ntezimana from Radio Salus in Rwanda
-“Manure the magic worker,” by Gladson Makowa from The Story Workshop in Malawi -“Endangered raffia palm groves (Raphiales): An environmental threat, a danger for the culture and the economy of the Grassfields,” by Frederic Takang from Abakwa FM in Cameroon
 -“Sekedo, a drought resistant sorghum for Karamoja,” by Pius Sawa Murefu from Radio Sapientia in Uganda
-“Drip irrigation,” by Dominic Mutua from Radio Mangelete in Kenya

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As many of our readers know, Farm Radio International is undertaking a three-and-a-half year action research project known as the African Farm Radio Research Initiative (AFRRI). With funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Farm Radio is working with radio partners in Ghana, Mali, Malawi, Tanzania, and Uganda to discover and document best practices for using radio-based communications to enhance food security in Africa. In two preliminary studies, researchers commissioned for AFRRI sought to summarize existing knowledge about communicating with radio and provide an overview of the economics of rural radio. These reports are now available online:

Communicating With Radio: What Do We Know? Findings from Selected Rural
Radio Effectiveness Evaluations, researched and written by Linje Manyozo.
This study revealed that radio-based rural education can be effective in disseminating knowledge, especially when:
-It is combined with other extension activities;
-It features testimonials, voices of other farmers, and farming communities;
-It is entertaining, involving dramas with role models relevant to the local context;
-There are organized group-listening activities with a discussion facilitator;
-Local communities are involved in creating content;
-Broadcasts deal with local issues in local language.
The study can be found online at:
http://farmradio.org/english/partners/afrri/communicating-with-radio.pdf.

Economics of Rural Radio in Africa: An Introductory Study into the Costs and
Revenues, researched and written by Chris Yordy.
This report revealed the following:
-The cost of programming for farmers varies greatly across different types of radio organizations and across different countries;
-Community stations tend to invest more resources in farmcasting than other types of radio stations but have problems sustaining such programming due to limited resources and dependency on donors;
-There are many opportunities for stations to generate revenues to support farmcasting which require further exploration;
-There is limited research available in the area of radio economics in Africa and additional research is needed at the country level to identify more specific avenues for investment.
This study can be found online at:
http://farmradio.org/english/partners/afrri/economics-rural-radio-africa.pdf.

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Farm Radio International’s Managing Editor, Vijay Cuddeford, is preparing to visit partners in West Africa next month. Here’s what he had to say about his upcoming trip….I will be visiting Nigeria and Cameroon from August 1-29 – my first time to West Africa! My first stop is Nigeria, where I’ll be travelling to the north to visit five radio stations involved in an exciting initiative to broadcast a 26-part serial drama about northern Nigerian farmers adapting to climate change. The drama is being written by the African Radio Drama Association, which is based in Lagos, and Farm Radio International is assisting by offering various services, including mine in editing the drama. I look forward to meeting with these stations and discussing the climate change drama and other radio-related issues.

In Cameroon, I will be travelling through much of the country, meeting many of our existing partners (and a few new partners), plus some Cameroon-based organizations which work on agriculture and development issues. At the stations, I’ll try to get an idea of how Farm Radio International can better serve their needs. We’ll exchange information on Farm Radio programs and on partner activities, and we’ll talk generally about how we can network together to strengthen rural radio in the country. And, as always, I’ll be on the lookout for stories to cover in upcoming issues of FRW and script packages.

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In the next week or two, FRW subscribers will receive a request to complete a short survey about our service. Since our goal is to support our subscribers in their work as radio broadcasters, we want to ensure that the stories and resources we provide are as useful as possible. The survey will ask questions such as: which sections of FRW do you use and how you use them, which news stories have been most relevant and interesting to your listeners, and what sorts of news and information would you like to see in future issues. Please stay tuned for this survey and take a moment to complete it when it arrives!

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There is more good news for the first and second place winners of the Farm Radio International-CTA scriptwriting competition: “African Farmers’ Strategies for Coping with Climate Change.” The top two winners have been invited to participate in an international seminar on climate change and agriculture.

The Technical Center for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation (CTA) will bring together 200 participants from Africa, the Caribbean, and the Pacific, for the seminar: “Implications of Global Climate Change for Sustainable Agricultural Production Systems in ACP countries.” There, our script winners will be able to contribute their expertise on questions such as: What impact does climate change have on production systems? What integrated solutions are being put forward and are they effective? What information and communication strategies are appropriate and how can they best be implemented?

Jean-Paul Ntezimana from Radio Salus in Rwanda won first place in the scriptwriting competition for his script “Rainfall retention protects soil.” Gladson Makowa from The Story Workshop in Malawi took second place for “Effect of manure in crops during erratic rain season.” You can learn more about the seminar that Mr. Ntezimana and Mr. Makowa have been invited to attend at: http://ctaseminar2008.cta.int/about.html.
Scripts by all 15 of the scriptwriting competition winners will be sent to Farm Radio partners in August and posted online as part of the next script package!

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Last week, Joseph Sekiku came to Canada to present at the Growing Inclusive Markets Forum in Halifax. From Halifax, he flew to Farm Radio International’s office in Ottawa. With his infectious smile and his knack for storytelling, Mr. Sekiku presented to Farm Radio International staff and donors as well as WUSC staff about how FADECO’s new FM radio station came to be and the impact it has had on the people in his community.

Joseph Sekiku is the founder and director of the Family Alliance for Development and Co-operation (FADECO), a rural development NGO in the village of Karagwe, northwestern Tanzania. FADECO strives to help farmers raise their standard of living by disseminating vital information and tips on agricultural practices.

In July 2007, by using recycled parts of an old computer and locally fabricated antennas, Joseph launched the first radio station in Karagwe: FADECO community radio 100.8 FM. The station is currently taking part in Farm Radio International’s African Farm Radio Research Initiative project. As an organization, FADECO works on many development issues. But Joseph says that 70 per cent of the station’s programming is focused on agriculture, with topics ranging from production to processing and value addition.

All of FADECO FM’s programs are in Kiswahili. Joseph says that one of the most popular programs on FADECO FM’s airwaves is Market Focus. Market Focus is a daily compilation of market prices. Devota Martine, a volunteer manager and, according to Joseph, the “bone marrow” of FADECO FM, hosts the show. Market prices are compiled from various sources such as the Kenya Agricultural Commodities Exchange and FOODNET in Uganda. Local Tanzanian market information is gathered by volunteer reporters who are dispatched throughout the country. They send text messages with crop prices or sometimes call the station for a live update using Skype, a free online calling tool.

What has been the impact of a radio program like Market Focus on the farmers in Karagwe? Joseph explains that before this radio program, farmers were exploited. A farmer producing maize, beans, or bananas wouldn’t know at what price to sell his crop. But now, if a buyer quotes a price, the farmer has more bargaining power because he or she is informed about market prices in various regions.

During his visit, Joseph toured the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation’s (CBC) station in Ottawa. Joseph was happy to see that, although CBC has a lot of equipment and resources, FADECO FM achieves the same result as CBC – disseminating information to the people; only FADECO FM does it with very few resources. As an example of how FADECO FM operates with limited resources, Joseph brings his laptop to the field and plugs his microphone directly into the laptop to record farmers’ voices. As FADECO FM prepares to celebrate its first year on the air, Joseph emphasizes that radio is the poor man’s path out of poverty because it gives power and knowledge even to those who are not literate.

To listen to Joseph’s presentation, click here:

Joseph sitting behind the mike in the CBC Ottawa studios.

Joseph talking about FADECO FM community radio.

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Farm Radio International, along with 13 other Canadian NGOs such as the Canadian Foodgrains Bank, Oxfam Canada, and USC Canada, signed a letter addressed to Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, urging him to address the global food crisis at the next G8 summit, taking place in Hokkaido Toyako, Japan from July 7-9, 2008. The signatories are asking the Prime Minister to use the G8 summit gathering and subsequent international meetings to announce the following commitments: make agriculture a sector priority in Canadian aid, play a leadership role in the reform of the multilateral food/agriculture institutions, contribute to a supportive and non-threatening international trade environment, support the use of commodity agreements and food stocks to reduce price volatility, and avoid threats to food security posed by biofuel development.

To view the full letter, please click on the following link: g8_food-crisis-ngo-letter.pdf

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In an air-conditioned conference room in Montreal, Canada, images of climate change in extreme locations – the Sahel desert and Arctic Circle – became vividly clear. Participants in The International Economic Forum of the Americas saw and heard how farmers in Nigeria plant seeds in drylands, no longer able to predict when the rainy season will come. They also heard how many experienced hunters in northern Alaska have lost their lives as a result of unexpected changes to ice conditions.

Salamatu Garba, Coordinator for the Women Farmers’ Advancement Network (WOFAN) in Nigeria, spoke (via audio recording) of the challenges faced by women in the Sahel. Though farmers have been coaxing crops from the drylands for generations, in recent years, the rains have become unpredictable, and sometimes arrive as a series of storms that flood the land. Ms. Garba explained that these conditions are especially challenging for women, as both farmers and traditional water gatherers.

Ms. Garba’s organization is collaborating with the African Radio Drama Association, Farm Radio International, and the International Development Research Centre, to create a radio drama that weaves practical information on adaptation techniques into a scintillating soap opera. Tips on using quick-germinating and fast-maturing grain varieties, methods to preserve and rehabilitate soil, and techniques for harvesting and storing water, will be included in the 26-part drama.

In northern Alaska, rising temperatures are creating different challenges, requiring very different adaptation techniques. Patricia Cochran, Chair of the Inuit Circumpolar Council, explained that some 85 per cent of communities are built on the coast, and hundreds will have to be re-located as the sea level rises. Ms. Cochran emphasized that, while the effects of climate change are devastating to people living in extreme locations, these people are experts at adaptation, and their input will be vital to developing coping methods. John M.R. Stone, Vice Chair of the Intergovernmental Panel of Climate Change, also spoke to the group, stressing the importance of action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, which are the cause of these disruptive climate changes.

For more information on the climate change radio drama, please see “‘Climate Change Adaptation Goes Soap!’ – Workshop for new radio drama held in Abuja,” from FRW Issue 5.

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Over the years, Farm Radio International has received many requests from groups seeking information on how to start their own community radio station. And while Farm Radio International’s core programming supports existing African radio organizations, we also wanted to assist these aspiring broadcasters. So Farm Radio volunteer Karina Barker developed a Community Radio Start-Up Information Guide, which is now available on the Farm Radio website: http://www.farmradio.org/english/partners/resources/radio-start-up.asp.

Even established radio organizations are sure to find useful information in this manual – which discusses how to get started, legal issues, funding options, things to think about when selecting equipment, ideas for managing your community radio station, and broadcasting tips. It also includes links to websites, publications and other resources that may be useful when starting up, and operating, a community radio station.

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Imagine waking up one morning to find that your radio station has been bombed. Or being arrested and beaten by police just for interviewing a member of the opposition party. Imagine having to move your station’s headquarters to a neighbouring country, only to have your radio signal deliberately jammed. Farm Radio partner Radio Voice of the People (VOP), its journalists and trustees, have endured all of this and more, to provide an alternative source of news and information to the people of Zimbabwe.The two attached reports tell the tale of Radio VOP, a broadcaster that refuses to be silenced. In an article published by World Radio TV Handbook (read the report by clicking here), Radio VOP Chairperson David Masunda describes his station’s mission: “As the name implies, VOP was formed to give a voice to the voiceless marginalised, the rural and urban communities whose interests are not being catered for by the government media, the voices of opposition political parties, those “banned” from the government-owned media, the civic society and the ordinary Zimbabwean whose story is not being told.”

The second article was published by the Open Society Initiative for Southern Africa (read the report by clicking here) , and quotes a former Radio VOP journalist who helped keep the alternative station on the airwaves following a bombing in 2002: “We always lived in terrible fear. After the bombing we were left homeless as a station and started operating from street corners, city restaurants and motor cars because no one was prepared to offer us office space for fear of being bombed. Everywhere we went we felt we were being followed by the dreaded state security agents but we made sure that we produced a powerful programme every day without fail.” You are sure to be inspired by the tenacity and courage of Radio VOP!

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Three FRW subscribers and three members of organizations with FRW subscriptions won prizes for their entries to a continent-wide scriptwriting competition on climate change adaptation strategies for African farmers, while a broadcaster from Radio Salus in Rwanda has won the grand prize. In October 2007, Farm Radio International, in collaboration with the Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation (CTA), launched African Farmers’ Strategies for Coping with Climate Change, a radio scriptwriting competition for African radio organizations.

The competition was timely, as smallholder farmers in Africa are already experiencing the impact of climate change. Weather patterns are changing, extreme weather events are becoming more common, and the threat of food shortages, crop failures, and growing deserts are real and immediate.

While African farmers are developing and adapting coping strategies on their own, they need new information about farming methods that minimize the negative impact of climate change. A major challenge is providing such information to large numbers of people at a low cost. Radio broadcasts can help address this challenge because they are spoken-word, often in local languages. Because radio builds on Africa’s oral culture, it is not constrained by illiteracy. The technologies for broadcasting and receiving broadcasts are widely available and affordable in rural areas.

Contestants were invited to submit a radio script on themes related to local adaptation to climate change. Fifty-one entries were received from 20 countries across sub-Saharan Africa. Jean-Paul Ntezimana from Radio Salus in Rwanda impressed the international panel of judges with his script on managing rainwater to prevent soil erosion and provide water for crops. This is an important adaptation practice for farmers who face extremely heavy rains on some occasions and droughts on others. Other winners focused on a variety of topics, including the importance of manure, water-conserving irrigation practices, drought-tolerant rice, preventing deforestation, and livestock management.

The FRW Team sends special congratulations to our winning subscribers: Mariama Sy Coulibaly from Afia FM in Senegal, Kwabena Agyei from Classic FM in Ghana, and Joshua Kyalimpa from Opsett Media/African Farm Radio Bureau in Uganda; as well as the winners from The Story Workshop in Malawi, Abakwa FM in Cameroon, and Radio Sapientia, organizations with at least one FRW subscriber!

All 15 winners will receive digital audio recorders, which will assist them with their work – for example, by enabling them to produce programs in the field highlighting local farmer voices. Jean-Paul Ntezimana from Radio Salus in Rwanda will receive a farm radio training/internship sponsored by the German Organization for Technical Cooperation (GTZ). Winners will also work with Farm Radio International’s managing editor, using feedback received from contest judges, to improve and finalize their scripts. The winning scripts will then be published in French and English and distributed by CTA and Farm Radio International to approximately 500 radio organizations across sub-Saharan Africa. They will then be transformed into a wide variety of programs and shared with rural audiences.

The winners and script titles are:
• Jean-Paul Ntezimana from Radio Salus in Rwanda: Rainfall retention protects soil
• Pius Sawa Murefu from Radio Sapientia in Uganda: Sekedo, a drought resistant sorghum for Karamoja
• Gladson Makowa from The Story Workshop in Malawi: Effect of manure in crops during erratic rain season
• Frederic Takang from Abakwa FM in Cameroon: Endangered Raphiales: An environmental threat, a danger for the culture and the economy of the grassfields
• Adama Zongo from Radio Rurale du Burkina in Burkina Faso: Organic manure at your fingertips
• Mariama Sy Coulibaly from Afia FM in Senegal: Fissel farmers don’t pick up straw after harvesting, a method that protects land from heat
• Kwabena Agyei from Classic FM in Ghana: A tale of two changes and movements: Mangoes to the Rescue
• Sachia Ngutsav from Radio Benue in Nigeria: Forests shall heal the land again
• Lamine Togola from Radio Fanaka in Mali : Natural phenomena and their consequences on the life of rural communities
• Savitri Mohapatra from WARDA in Benin: Growing NERICA is a farming solution for coping with climate change
• Rachael Awuor from Ugunja Community Resource Centre in Kenya: Getting ready to meet different weather patterns
• Dominic Mutua from Radio Mangelete in Kenya: Drip irrigation
• Félix Houinsou from Radio Immaculée Conception in Benin: How to modify production systems in Africa to cope with climate change
• Joshua Kyalimpa from Opsett Media/African Farm Radio Bureau in Uganda: New rice variety for Africa to save wetlands
• Andrew Mahiyu from NASFAM in Malawi: Livestock Management Practices

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This week’s news stories from Cameroon and Senegal illustrate that higher food prices do not automatically produce better livelihoods for farmers. Farmers from Cameroon explained that the rising costs of inputs such as fertilizer are absorbing their profits. Farmers from Senegal fear that imported grains could ruin the local market for their products.

Good access to current market prices and longer-term market trends help farmers decide when and where to sell their crops to obtain the best price. Below, we feature a script from Farm Radio International’s most recent package that describes how Farm Radio partner MEGA FM in northern Uganda produces regular market news shows. You can also find this script online at: http://www.farmradio.org/english/radio-scripts/83-3script_en.asp.

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Every Farm Radio International script package is accompanied by an issue of Voices. Voices newsletters provide information and resources related to the scripts, broadcasting tips, and a forum for partners to share experiences and lessons learned. Below is a profile of Dzimwe Community Radio in the Southern Region of Malawi that appeared in the March 2008 issues of Voices (http://www.farmradio.org/english/partners/voices/v2008mar.asp).

We would love to profile your radio organization in a future issue of FRW. If you are interested, please contact FRW Editor Heather Miller at hmiller@farmradio.org.

Dzimwe Community Radio is based in Mangochi in the Southern Region of Malawi. It was established in 1998 to enhance communication amongst rural communities. Funded by the United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), it aims to encourage development by facilitating dialogue on community needs and issues in order for people to identify appropriate solutions. Several of the issues the radio station addresses are of particular interest to women and help to provide them with a voice. These issues include: improving health, gender-based violence, income generation activities such as farming, sustainable utilization and conservation of natural resources, and safe motherhood. The station has 15 radio listening clubs which provide feedback on programming.

Dzimwe Community Radio covers almost the entire District of Mangochi and parts of Ntcheu, Dedza, and Balaka Districts. It has a radius of 150 km. The station broadcasts from 5:55 am to 10:00 pm daily. The majority of people in the area rely on farming and/or fishing for their livelihoods. Crops grown in the area include maize, groundnuts, millet, sweet potatoes, cassava, cotton, tobacco, vegetables, and fruit.

Hilda Jambo runs the station and receives support from an assistant supervisor and a Board of Directors made up of community representatives. Other personnel are all volunteers and include: three program producers, eight presenters and announcers, one driver, one accounts officer, one marketing officer, and one engineer.

The following three radio programs focus on issues of relevance to smallholder farmers and fishers:

Ulimi Wokhazikika (Sustainable Agriculture) airs Monday and Thursday between 2:00 and 2:30 pm. The program promotes sustainable smallholder farming practices and food security through dramas, poems, documentaries, and interviews. The program also promotes agroforestry practices and encourages growing a diversified mix of food crops rather than depending on maize alone.

Tisodze (Fisheries Conservation) airs Tuesday and Saturday from 10:30 to 11:00 am. The program is aimed at making the community aware of legal and illegal fishing practices. It features issues that are impacting the growth of the fishing industry and leading to over-fishing. The program also highlights alternative protein sources to fish and alternative livelihood strategies to fishing.

Zachilengedwe (Natural Resource Utilization and Conservation) is a program aimed at encouraging sustainable management of resources, including processing of indigenous fruit trees and other wild resources into valuable products. The program has assisted people to introduce guinea fowl rearing, goat rearing, beekeeping, and the processing baobab, tamarind, and jujube fruits into juice.

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Since Farm Radio Weekly was officially launched in December 2007, we have worked to provide you with useful resources and a “virtual space” to connect with other radio organizations. But being based in Canada, we face challenges in connecting with all those who want to access our services. For this reason, Farm Radio International engaged consultant Bart Sullivan to visit some East African radio organizations to talk about Farm Radio Weekly.

In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Mr. Sullivan observed the strength and vibrancy of community radio. He met with the following people: Abbé Sylvestre Mitima of Radio Maria Malkia wa Amani, Cleophas Mapendano of Studio Neno la Uzima-Ibra Radio, Emmanuel of Radio Maendeleo, Thierry Amisi with the Radio Television National Congolaise (RNTC), and Richard McDonald of La Voix de Kahuzi. In Rwanda, he learned that the government is working to regulate community radio stations, and met with Steven Kalisa of Community Radio Ruzizi (Cyangugu) and Rwabuneza Anastase with the Office Rwandais d’Information (ORINFOR). These meetings helped Farm Radio International to better understand the culture and working conditions at community radio stations, as well as your challenges (such as poor Internet connectivity!) in using Farm Radio Weekly. We thank all those who took the time to meet with Mr. Sullivan and hope to see you all on the FRW subscriber list soon!

If you missed Emily Arayo’s report on Mr. Sullivan’s workshop with broadcasters in Uganda (published in Issue 17), you can link to it here: http://farmradio.org/english/weekly/2008/04/07/workshop-introduces-ugandan-broadcasters-to-frw-contributed-by-emily-arayo-national-coordinator-for-afrri-uganda/

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Last week, we announced that the Developing Countries Farm Radio Network has officially changed its name to Farm Radio International. At the same time, we updated our website to make it easier for broadcasters to fi