Annual Report: Interactive Radio for Ecologically Sustainable Agricultural Practices (IRESAP)

Farm Radio is working with five existing radio stations to research, design, produce and evaluate two series each of 16 weeks every year for three years, which follows the seasonal calendar of the northern and central regions in Tanzania. We will also curate and share a collection of training resources and radio scripts for our broadcasting partners on crops including cabbage, beans, millet, potatoes, sorghum and more. 

The project is in the second year of implementation, with the ultimate goal of ensuring that at least 2 million women, men and youth across the country are provided with ecological sustainable agriculture practices information. This will enable them to learn and adopt sustainable farming practices that will help them ensure food security and climate change resilience.

In the first year and a half, Farm Radio’s five partner stations (Radio Sauti Ya Injili, Radio Habari Njema, Standard FM, Mwangaza FM and Utume FM) have broadcast radio programs on numerous topics related to ecologically sustainable agriculture practices. 

Highlights from the implementation so far are as follows:

• An estimated 2,603,697 listeners in the project-targeted areas reached through the 5 radio stations.
• A total of 154 weeks of radio episodes produced and aired.
• Digital innovation services (Uliza Poll, SMS) deployed to enhance interactivity on air and weekly poll questions introduced for each radio episode. A total of 200 interactions per week is planned for every radio station.
• A total of 33,811 (26,446 men and 7365 women) interacted with Uliza, our interactive services, during this period.
• A total of 85,537 SMS have been sent out so far to listeners to remind them to tune in to radio programs every week.
• A total of 80 Community Listening Groups participated in the radio programming activities.