Issue #11

As we celebrated Valentine’s Day last week, we certainly felt the love coming our way when we gathered the results of our partner survey. We can’t thank you enough for all your thoughtful comments and words of encouragement! This week, the FRW team would like to keep spreading the love with another newsletter filled with inspiring stories about farmers and the technologies that help them.

We also invite you to take a look at some of the great content that readers have contributed to the FRW website (http://farmradio.org/english/weekly/). Peter Kettler from the Coffee Lifeline Project in Rwanda followed up on our story about coffee bikes from Issue 8. He explains how his NGO is supporting coffee farmers with information on market rates, farming techniques, and health, shared over the radio. Greg Modestus from the African Radio Drama Association in Nigeria also started some interesting discussions based on two of last week’s news stories – on the training of ex-combatants for agriculture, and the discovery that the cottonseed oil consumed by most Malian families was found to be toxic.

On a technical note, we have also heard that some of you are having problems reading the FRW newsletter text that you receive in your inbox. We thank those who alerted us to this problem – and we have simple solution for you! We noticed that the subscribers who were having problems all used yahoo! as their e-mail provider. The problem seems to arise from the use of the old, “classic” yahoo! mail service. To solve your viewing problems, you simply need to upgrade your account from classic mail to the new yahoo! e-mail service. If you have any questions about performing this upgrade – or if you still have a hard time reading the text after the upgrade is complete – please send an e-mail to nbassily@famradio.org detailing the exact problem. We will do our best to help you out!

Finally, a reminder that there is still time to contribute to our special issue celebrating International Women’s Day. If you would like to share examples of the challenges and innovations of women farmers in your area, or a description of how your radio organization has worked to raise the profile of women farmers and their issues, please e-mail FRW Editor Heather Miller at hmiller@farmradio.org

Happy reading!

-The Farm Radio Weekly Team

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African Farm News in Review
1. Africa: Farming improves refugees’ food security and self-sufficiency (Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees)
2. Sudan: Treadle pumps boost dry-season farming (Science Daily and UNDP-Soudan)
3. South Africa: Community gardens help women pensioners maintain their independence (allAfrica.com)

Upcoming Events

-March 31, 2008 – Deadline for nominations: Prize for Women’s Creativity in Rural Life

Radio Resource Bank

-Women Talk Peace radio programs available for free download

DCFRN Action

-Radio Maendeleo “clubs” encourage peace and development in Eastern Congo

DCFRN Script of the Week

-An Innovative Farmer Grows Food for Refugees

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Bizimungu Dieudonne arrived in Zimbabwe five years ago with a sack of maize strapped to his bicycle. He was fleeing the civil war in Burundi. Like thousands of others escaping violence in their home countries, he was welcomed into the Tongogara refugee camp.In Burundi, Mr. Dieudonne was a tailor. But in the camp, there was no work for him. When his single sack of maize was gone, he depended on food rations supplied by the United Nations. When an agricultural training program offered him a chance at self-sufficiency, he was eager to start. Mr. Dieudonne now grows his own maize and looks forward to learning about other crops.

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees notes that there are fewer armed conflicts in Africa than there were 20 years ago. However, those conflicts that persist – in countries such as Burundi, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Somalia, and Sudan –
have kept people away from their homes for years. That is why the UN has begun to focus on agricultural training for refugees. Refugees learn to grow food for their families, and to sell crops for profit.

The majority of refugees in the Maratane camp in Mozambique come from the Democratic Republic of the Congo. They don’t know when it will be safe to return home. But in the meantime, families have been offered loans to buy laying hens, both to supplement food rations and provide income. Over time, the UN hopes that every household in the camp will raise chickens.

Mendes Munguambe is the head of the UN’s field office at the Meheba refugee settlement in Zambia. Most people at the Meheba settlement had fled from Angola. Though many Angolans have returned to their native country, thousands have chosen to stay. Mr. Munguambe says that as long as refugees are living in this settlement, the UN wants the community to be self-sufficient.

Those who remain have been encouraged to join an agricultural cooperative. The cooperative will allow farmers to share their skills and resources. It will also be run commercially, allowing the refugees to sell food on a large scale to the nearby mining village.

Not all refugees in Africa have the opportunity to farm or operate small businesses. Some countries forbid refugees from carrying out any such economic activities. But for those who are able, farming can offer pride and independence in an otherwise tumultuous time.

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Deng Kak is one of the small-scale farmers in Sudan fortunate enough to have a plot of land next to the Nile River. But apart from daily use in domestic chores, the Nile River waters never really helped his farm.

Mr. Kak is now among 200 small-scale farmers supported by the Northern Upper Nile Consortium — a coalition of NGOs funded by the European Commission through the UNDP. The farmers receive treadle pumps and vegetable seeds. They then work together in small groups to operate the pumps and cultivate crops during the dry season.

Treadle pumps are simple devices that allow farmers to draw water from the ground by pedalling two levers up and down. The treadle pumps can do most of the work of a motorized pump, taking water from a depth of six or seven metres. But they cost much less.

And, because of the ingenuity of two American university students – Mustafa Dafalla and Zahir Dossa – more Sudanese farmers will have access to treadle pumps. They created a company called company Selsabila which sells pumps for 100 American dollars, or about 70 Euros each.

With the help of microfinance institutions, the founders of Selsabila are looking to put 100 treadle pumps in the hands of Sudanese farmers by May 2008.

The pumps mean that crops can be grown year round, and can triple the food production of small-scale farmers. By boosting production, the pumps pay for themselves in the first year.

Selsabila is also starting local businesses to market the pumps and workshops to repair them. Mr. Dafalla and Mr. Dossa hope to eventually transfer their entire operation to Sudan. Mr. Dafalla says that many Sudanese farmers are desperate. Selsabila aims to give them hope. That’s why they called their company Selsabila – the word comes from the Koran and means “the river that flows from the heavens.”

Located on the southern edge of the Sahara desert, Sudan is one of the driest regions in the world. The country’s dry season lasts nine months, and even during the rainy season, rains are often poor. About two-thirds of Sudanese people are small-scale farmers who irrigate their farms manually with water buckets.

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At 72 years old, Phillipina Ndamane has no plans to slow down. Standing in her vegetable garden, she is surrounded by the produce that keeps her independent. Rows upon rows of cabbages, carrots, spinach, and broccoli are the key to her empowerment.In this community garden in the Gugulethu township, outside of Cape Town, Ms. Ndamane grows food that she couldn’t afford to buy. The garden is a sort of subsidy for her modest government pension. The vegetables help her to stay healthy, and provide food for her elderly sister and the nine children that she supports – grandchildren and orphans.

Ms. Ndamane is not unusual among community gardeners in the townships surrounding Cape Town. In fact, the average garden co-owner is a female pensioner.

At first, local communities resisted the idea of community gardens when NGOs tried to improve food security in the townships. But now people are clamouring to be part of the movement to grow vegetables on previously unused land. Hundreds of the gardens have sprung up around Cape Town.

Rob Small is a manager with an organization called Abalimi Bezekhaya, or Planters of the Home. He explains that there was a power struggle between men and women for control of the community gardens. According to Mr. Small, men were most interested in making money from the community gardens. Women placed a higher priority on being able to provide their families and communities with nutritious food.

In the end, women took over the leadership role. The land that Ms. Ndamane cultivates is part of a larger community garden owned and controlled by women. Shaba Esiteng is another co-owner of the community garden. She enjoys being able to share vegetables with those in the community who are not able to work, such as the elderly and people with HIV-related illnesses.

But the women do earn money as well. Each has her own private plot as well as a share in a communal plot. Vegetables grown on the communal plot are sold and the profits shared.

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We began our series on Conflict and Food with a news story that described the many ways that violent conflict can undermine small-scale agriculture, and ultimately national food security. At the conclusion of this four-part series, we are pleased to bring you a story about the power of farming to improve people’s lives – even in very difficult circumstances.
We invite you to review the previous news stories in this series, at the links provided here:
-Kenya: Violence forces farmers to flee, threatens food supply
-Liberia: Farmers rebuild agriculture sector against the odds
-Africa: Reintegration of ex-combatants through agriculture

One of our motivations for preparing this series was an observation that the impact of violent conflict on farming and food security seems underreported in African and international media. We will continue to search for stories about how African farmers are affected by – and coping with – conflict in their home countries. But this is where we could use your help! If you are familiar with a situation where farmers are coping with conflict, please e-mail FRW Editor Heather Miller at hmiller@farmradio.org to discuss how we could feature their story in a future issue.

Here are some areas you may wish to research, depending on the circumstances in your broadcast area:
-What methods do communities in your area use to resolve disputes, such as disputes over local resources? Can you find an example of a dispute that was successfully resolved?
-If there are camps for refugees or internally displaced people in your area, what activities do people in these camps carry out to maintain their food security? In what way do local farmers interact with the displaced people (for example, is local food purchased by the camp; are refugees hired as agricultural workers for larger farms?)
-If there is an ongoing conflict or insecurity in your area, how have farmers who remain on their land adapted their practices to maintain food security? If overall food production has been reduced, how are farmers and others coping?

Finally, for more information about refugees in Africa, you may wish to visit the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees’ report on The State of the World’s Refugees 2006:
http://www.unhcr.org/cgi-bin/texis/vtx/template?page=publ&src=static/sowr2006/toceng.htm

For additional broadcast material related to refugee health and food security, please consider the following from DCFRN package 67:
-Health considerations for refugees
-Growing vegetables in a refugee camp
-An innovative farmer grows food for refugees

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The treadle pump, or pedal pump, is a concept that was born in Bangladesh and quickly spread through Asia and Africa. The idea came from a report which found that motorized pumps and large wells were so costly that their operators became a veritable oligarchy of “water lords”. Pedal pumps came to the aid of poor, small-scale farmers. Made in small workshops with simple supplies, the pumps allowed farmers to water their crops themselves and thereby produce a second harvest during the dry season.

But the treadle pump isn’t the only method of obtaining water for dry-season farming.
You may wish to consult the DCFRN script “A Community Builds a Groundwater Dam to Solve its Water Problems” (Package 71, Script 7, June 2004), which describes another solution for small-scale farming.

You may also wish to visit the following web resources related to the use of treadle pumps:

-A video that demonstrates the use of a treadle pump on a farm in Malawi: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NElp0GQ-iMI

-An audio recording of an expert from the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization explaining the advantages of pedal pumps for small farmers (in French only): ftp://ext-ftp.fao.org/Radio/MP3/2001/Treadle-pumps-T-Brabben.mp3

-An article that explains the economic, social, and environmental advantages of the treadle pump: http://www.w-3-w.ch/english/pep_leaflet_ch.pdf

-An article that describes an irrigation project to assist small-scale farmers in Zambia and Ethiopia: http://www.canada.com/edmontonjournal/news/story.html?id=a218b993-e00e-4135-997e-58c6eea480d8

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Community gardens are a growing trend in all parts of the world. In both urban and rural areas, they can allow people with limited financial resources to take charge of their food security by growing nutritious foods. We were inspired by the commitment of the women from Fezeka community garden in Gugulethu township near Cape Town, South Africa, who ensure that their garden benefits their families, and their community at large.

A short video showing the abundance of Fezeka community garden is available here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4w8DUeojLAM.

Hundreds of community gardens have been started in South Africa’s townships with the support of two NGOs – Abalimi Bezekhaya (http://www.abalimi.org.za/) and Soil for Life (http://www.soilforlife.co.za/). Abalimi Bezekhaya advocates what it calls “livelihood level” gardens, which provide food for the community and some income for the owners – noting that this kind of garden benefits the community more than regular commercial farming. Soil for Life, meanwhile, is encouraging more people to start home gardens because they eliminate the need for transportation to and from a field.

However, NGO support is not necessarily required to start this kind of project. The following DCFRN scripts provide examples of women who used their creativity and limited resources to make gardens that support their communities:
-Making Something with Nothing: The Rubbish Garden
-Container Gardens Provide Fresh Vegetables for City Dwellers
-A Mother Helps to Start a School Garden

You may wish to host a call-in show where listeners can share their experiences with any of the following:
-Communal gardening/farming to improve nutrition and food security. (What needs do they address? What resources did they use to get started?)
-Community kitchens or communally-owned food processing equipment.
-Community-led initiatives to provide food for people who cannot work, such as the elderly and people with HIV-related illnesses.

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The Women’s World Summit Foundation (WWSF) is seeking nominees for a prize that recognizes women’s contributions to sustainable development, household food security, and peace. The prize aims to draw international attention to the winners’ work, thus generating recognition and support for their projects and activities. Up to 20 women will be given the award for Creativity in Rural Life and receive a $500 prize.

Submissions must be received by mail (in Geneva, Switzerland), by March 31, 2008. Entries should emphasize any of the following elements:
-exceptional courage and perseverance in improving rural life;
-creativity in the approach;
-preservation of and respect for the environment;
-continuing impact on the community.

Prize winners will be officially announced on September 1, and celebrated on October 15, World Rural Women’s Day. For more details on the nomination process, as well as information on past winners, visit: http://www.woman.ch/women/1-introduction.php. You may also download a nomination form here: http://www.woman.ch/women/files/nominationform-1.pdf.

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The International Women’s Tribune Centre (IWTC) has produced a series of radio programs highlighting the impact of violent conflict on women, as well as women’s contributions to conflict resolution and sustainable peace. The radio productions include features, dramas, and short announcements to communicate information about the United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325, on women, peace, and security.

Longer programs about women and conflict focus on the following countries:
-Uganda, in English, Swahili, and Luganda languages;
-Liberia, in English, Kpelle, and Bassa languages.
Shorter spots on the UN resolution were produced in the following countries:
-Kenya, in English, Swahili, and French languages;
-South Africa, in English, Portuguese, and Oromo languages.

The IWTC plans to launch two new Women Talk Peace programs on International Women’s Day, March 8, 2008. They will include a radio soap opera on the issue of sexual and gender-based violence, produced in Uganda, and programs that address issues confronted by women and men rebuilding Sierra Leone, such as post-conflict violence. The Women Talk Peace audio flies and scripts can be downloaded here: http://iwtc.org/2983/index.html.

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As the Democratic Republic of the Congo searches for an end to violent conflict following the recent signing of a peace deal, we thought it would be an appropriate time to showcase the work of DCFRN partner Radio Maendeleo. Radio Maendeleo has been broadcasting content related to political and developmental issues from the town of Bukavu, in South Kivu province, since 1994. A researcher for the NGO International Media Support studied Radio Maendeleo and prepared a report outlining the station’s unique contributions to peace and development.

Radio Maendeleo has several clubs which provide programming for broadcast. The groups are formed by people seeking to inform others of their development projects and experiences, as well as to deliver news on events in their areas — news which is “often synonymous with denouncement of abuses by local authorities.” Clubs are reviewed by the station based on their ability to produce programming that may benefit others. Approved clubs are provided with simple cassette recorders and, in some cases, bicycles to bring their recordings to the station.

The researcher outlined several examples of the effectiveness of the radio clubs in a suburb of Bukavu, including:

-“One young woman had used the radio to gather 300 young girls who had fled villages in the jungle due to insecurity;”
-“A woman who ran a vocational center for widows used the radio to broadcast information on micro credit opportunities;” -“Others used Radio Maendeleo to avoid soil erosion by informing citizens of the need to preserve trees on certain spots and to place electric bulbs outside houses to decrease the likelihood of theft at night.”

The author’s complete report is available online, here: http://www.comminit.com/en/node/71162

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Throughout our news series on Conflict and Food, we have re-introduced many scripts from Package 67, June 2003, which focused on the theme: “Rebuilding rural lives and livelihoods.” As this news series ends, we invite you to browse through these scripts on topics ranging from resolving local disputes over resources, preparing for food security in the event of a disaster, maintaining health as a refugee, and rebuilding agricultural systems following violent conflict. All of the titles from Package 67 can be found in DCFRN’s online archive of scripts: http://www.farmradio.org/english/radio-scripts/numerical.asp.

As our last article in the news series looks at how agricultural skills can help refugees maintain food security, we decided to highlight a script that explores another side of the situation. “An Innovative Farmer Grows Food for Crops” describes the real situation of a farmer discovering a way to boost his sweet potato production, so much so that he was able to help support recently-displaced refugees.

This script can be found online here: http://www.farmradio.org/english/radio-scripts/67-3script_en.asp

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