ICT Update: Film-making Farmers

"Film-making Farmers" is the theme of this edition of ICT Update, a bimonthly printed bulletin, web magazine, and email newsletter focusing on the use of information and communication technologies (ICTs) in agriculture in developing countries. It is a comprehensive look at the uses of digital video - participatory and otherwise - in agriculture and rural development.

The articles include "Camcorders, Cassava and Crude," an investigation of how farmers and fishers in the Niger Delta are using a combination of participatory video, mobile-to-web messaging, and online video sharing to take on the oil companies that are polluting their lands and waters. An article on food security and market pricing in Burkina Faso features Chévrina, a puppet goat who has captured an audience in the hopes of boosting public awareness of key agricultural issues. "Ghanaian Cocoa Farmer Videos Tackle Pod Pest" covers a project in Ghana where cocoa growers are producing videos that teach improved cocoa cultivation principles to their fellow farmers.

This issue reports on an AIDS support group in Malawi that is using participatory video to boost their self-esteem and to encourage others to get themselves tested. The Question & Answer feature of the publication has an interview of Jamaica-based participatory videographer Maria Protz on the role of gender in participatory video. There is also an equipment inventory and example budget for readers who want to start their own participatory video project.

An editorial on the empowerment of the use of digital video in the global South is followed by an opinion perspective on participatory video as a revolution in communication for development.