Farm Radio – Putting Farmers First

“Why should I tell our farmers every day the same message every year? This year, grow maize like this? Next year grow maize like this; the other year, grow maize like this? What’s wrong? There must be something wrong, not with farmer, but with me – the person who is communicating. It means I haven’t found a very workable way of engaging the farmer”.

This was the was the thrust of a keynote address the Principal of Chancellor College, a constituent college of the University of Malawi gave to participants who gathered at a farm radio symposium held in the Malawi capital Lilongwe from September 13 to 14, 2010.

I agree with most of the things Professor Chris Kamlongera raised, for example, that: “Farm radio should not be regarded as a free-for-all area”. This is because since I attended a specialized farm radio production training offered by the African Farm Radio Research Initiative (AFRRI) in 2009, I have, indeed, learnt that producing effective farm radio, as professor Kamlongera, put it “is beyond knowing how to handle a microphone and getting people sit around a table”.

“Successful farm radio will come out if we put farmers first, right from the time of planning to the production of the programmes themselves to shift from a top-down approach to radio programming to a dialogue based production”, he told the gathering”.

Professor Kamlongera was right because when I was a beginner farm radio producer, I never bothered to conduct pre-interviews. This is where you discuss with the farmers off the tape what issues they feel are pertinent to the topic. Where there is time, especially, in longer duration campaigns then you cannot do without a baseline survey!

This is what we did at Zodiak Broadcasting Station when we undertook two six-month radio campaigns. First, in the 2007-2008 farming season to teach farmers best practices in the use of Vetiver grass as a means of soil and water conservation, and secondly in the 2009-2010 farming season when we taught farmers the best practices in organic manure application.

Through this type of participatory programming the results of the radio massages we sent out to farmers in three villages of Lavu, Makombe and Lovimbi in Dowa District, central Malawi were tremendous.

“George, we have seen an incredible change. Previously in this area the acreage of farm land applied with organic manure used to be 1068. But now, we can see that the figure has increased to 3205 hectares”, Agriculture Extension Planning Area Coordinator Andrew Kaipanyama, told me when I visited the area to undertake a postmortem survey on the impact of the radio programme we dubbed Mlera Nthaka, which in English literary means ‘soil conserver’.

“Agriculture is about growing produce. For most of our people it is at subsistent level. They want to survive. We’re now talking about commercialization of agriculture, that’s a different world. When our subsistent farmer breaks into the commercial sector, our approaches to their work will be different. But when we are talking about ordinary farmers producing subsistence agriculture, then we are talking about them meeting their needs”.

“And them, first and foremost being the survivors, they know the answers. Do we ever bother to find out what they know? Can we then add value to what they know as the basis of our communication with them? In that way you will see we are humble enough to recognize the skills they have…they have been having all these years and passing them on to each other”, said the professor.

True to his words, I no longer assume that farmers are ignorant and laggards and expect to produce a radio programme, they will like. I have first to hear their views and filter them with what I know and what the experts and extension workers are saying on the issue.

Broadcasters must reduce over-dependence on donor funding

I made this recommendation in my diploma thesis so I was not surprised when professor Kamlongera raised it in his key note address at the second farm radio symposium held under the theme: “farm radio programming – a catalyst for addressing emerging issues in agricultural development in Malawi”.

“At the moment most of our so called farm related radio broadcasts depend on donor funding. If there’s no donor money attached to them, then we’re not assured of their sustainability. We need to consider this seriously both at policy and implementation level”, the professor advised the delegates.

From experience I agree with him, because I am having problems to resuscitate the Mlera Nthaka programme since the AFRRI project phased out mid this year (2010). I have maintained the other programme which I started as a personal initiative, though.

But as professor Kamlongera pointed out, I have problems to frequently travel to rural areas to conduct all the stages that go along with farm radio production such as pre-interviews and listener tendency surveys. I have to do with the least I can to keep the program running every week.

And, further, to concur with professor Kamlongera, we do not have adequate personal to professionally handle farm radio in Malawi. He cited a survey carried out by Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation (CTA) and the UN food Agency FAO that observed that our country has limited capacity in terms of farm radio. “Therefore there’s need to establish a properly constituted training and accredited to train people so that they can do a good job”, he suggested.

Making farm radio a success

Participants to the 2010 Malawi Farm Radio Symposium endorsed the suggestion by professor Kamlongera that farm radio requires specialized training which is credible for producers to effectively communicate with farmers.

Because some agricultural messages that are broadcast are misleading and inconsistent, the symposium recommended that there is need for a harmonized approach in packaging messages among different players both in public sector and civil society.

To overcome donor dependence radio owners must engage into partnership with non-governmental organizations to ensure sustainable funding towards farm radio programs.

Because not all farmers have access to radio, promotion of radio listening groups and radios that do not use batteries (solar, winding powered) for small holder farmers is the answer to increasing access to broadcasts.

Mobile phone service providers and government must be lobbied to offer training and subsidized rates for the services that can be used to enhance agriculture communication such as the short message service (SMS) and toll-free numbers to call out to farm radio producers.

There is need for media houses and agriculture organizations and institutions to jointly conduct a study to find out more about gender dimensions on access, utilization and benefits of farm radio programming in line with the information gaps observed. It was observed in most of the presentations at the symposium that a few women have access to radio compared to men.

To quote chairperson of Farm Radio Malawi Advisory Committee Dr Stanley Khaila, “It is not that the family doesn’t have a radio set, but the man probably takes it with him as he goes to the market, or simply switches it off and on depending on the programmes he would like to listen to”.

In her presentation meteorologist Elina Kululanga made an ambitious recommendation to help improve farmers’ access to accurate weather information, particularly to help them plan properly in terms of timing for planting: formation of a ‘Radio Citizen Club’ through a programme called ‘Strengthening Citizen Voice through Community Radio’. But due to capacity constraints I doubt its feasibility in the near future.

Her thinking is that such a project would develop “innovative participatory radio programmes to support citizen groups at local scale”. It will strengthen communities’ capacity to engage in public debates and influence action on climate change. In doing so, “the programme would reverse conventional flows of information and place listener feedback at the centre of radio programming”.

Communities will be organized into listening groups that will meet regularly to share their knowledge and experiences on a series of common themes that integrate climate change in day-to-day farming practices.

To sum up I quote professor Kamlongera again: “Farmers know the answers to the problems they face”. As farm radio producers our role is to assist them how best they can ago about implementing those solutions.

Narai Clocks Two months

Happy birthday, son Narai, as you celebrate two months(Oct 7, 2010).May the Almighty continue being with you - Papa