The Soul Beat 226 - Communication and Media for Agriculture
In this issue of The Soul Beat:
- Agricultural RADIO AND MEDIA projects, and resources for radio producers...
- ICTS and agriculture - experiences and lessons learned...
- Involving WOMEN AND YOUTH in agriculture...
- ICTs for Agriculture Conference...
This edition of The Soul Beat focuses on the role of media and communication in agricultural development. It includes a selection of programme experiences, research reports, and resources from the Soul Beat Africa website that highlight how media, radio, and information and communication technologies (ICTs) are being used to improve agricultural production, and encourage the involvement of women and youth in rural development.
If you would like your organisation's communication work or research and resource documents to be featured on the Soul Beat Africa website and in The Soul Beat newsletters, please contact soulbeat@comminit.com
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AGRICULTURE AND THE ROLE OF RADIO AND MEDIA
1. Her Farm Radio Initiative - Tanzania, Uganda, Ethiopia, Malawi, Mali, Burkina Faso, and Ghana
Officially launched in July 2013 by Farm Radio International (FRI), Her Farm Radio highlights projects that place particular focus on the voice and knowledge needs of women farmers and includes projects using radio drama, participatory radio, and reality radio programmes. According to FRI, women farmers are the backbone of agriculture in Africa, involved in every stage of food production, from sowing and weeding to harvesting and selling crops at the market. Farmers, female farmers in particular, need access to relevant agricultural information to help them plan for and cope with change and to meet the nutrition and food security needs of their families and communities.
2. African Farm Radio Results Initiative 2 - Mali, Ghana, Uganda, Tanzania and Malawi
Launched in January 2011, African Farm Radio Results Initiative (AFRRI-2) is a 36-month project which is designed to build the effectiveness of radio organisations and broadcasters in helping small holder farmers in Africa to adopt more productive and sustainable farming practices. It is an extension of the African Farm Radio Research Initiative (AFRRI) which was implemented from 2007 to 2010. The programme focuses on building human capacity as well as support the continuation of modest action research activities to discover and introduce new ways of using information and communication technologies (ICTS) to enhance farm radio and to assess the longer-term impact of AFRRI's participatory radio campaigns.
3. Making Sense (and Cents) of Food and Nature: A Media Guide to Covering Agro-ecology and Food Sovereignty [September, 2012]
By Jeff Rutherford
"Journalists can make an important contribution to debates over food and farming by helping to inform their audiences about not just the challenges, but also about the emergence of agro-ecology and its potential to make a difference." In preparation for the Earth Journalism Network (EJN) Fellowship Program to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) World Conservation Congress that took place in September 2012, journalism trainer Jeff Rutherford developed this media guide on agro-ecology and food sovereignty issues to help journalists in their efforts to cover these issues.
4. Farmer Voice Radio (FVR) - Kenya, Malawi
Launched in 2009, Farmer Voice Radio (FVR) is designed to be an agricultural extension service that links extension officers and farmers through radio and other information and communication technologies to enhance farmer productivity and prosperity and eliminate the need to reach every farmer in person. The project began in Kenya and Malawi and plans to expand into Uganda, Mali, Ghana, and Tanzania. The radio extension programming is centred on short-format radio broadcasts, such as AgTips, which radios stations can broadcast repeatedly to reinforce learning. The project makes use of Radio Extension Officers who create the link between farmers and radio programming.
5. 75 Ways to Fix Your Farmer Programme [December, 2012]
By Doug Ward and Marvin Hanke
In 2010, Farm Radio International gathered information about farmer radio programmes from radio stations in Cameroon, Ghana, Kenya, Tanzania, and Malawi. They visited twenty stations and two production houses and listened to their farmer programmes. They posed hundreds of questions to the people making the programmes and to the people listening to them. This set of tips stems from their findings, to help broadcasters improve their farmer programmes.
6. Interactive Radio for Agricultural Development Projects: A Toolkit for Practitioners [December, 2012]
By Josh Woodard
Developed by the Fostering Agriculture Competitiveness Employing Information Communication Technologies (FACET) project (a U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) project), this toolkit is designed to help USAID projects and other implementing organisations use interactive radio to augment the traditional agricultural extension services they are providing. It is designed to provide practitioners with a foundational understanding of what is needed to create compelling radio programming, as well as how to develop a more systematic approach to using interactive radio as one medium through which they share information with farmers.
7. Integrating Low-Cost Video into Agricultural Development Projects: A Toolkit for Practitioners [May, 2012]
This toolkit, developed by FHI360 for USAID's Fostering Agriculture Competitiveness Employing Information Communication Technologies (FACET) project, is designed to be a starting place for practitioners who want to integrate videos into their work. It provides a framework on how to choose the right technology for the situation and how to plan and produce a video that reaches the intended audience with the right information. It explains how to effectively share videos and shows how to track whether videos are having an impact.
8. Community Sustainable Development Initiative (CSDI) - Democratic Republic of Congo
From 2010 to 2012, the Community Sustainable Development Initiative (CSDI) worked to design and implement a communication component to support agricultural and forestry research and extension activities in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). In collaboration with the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) project "Rehabilitation Programme of the National Agricultural and Forestry Research System of the Democratic Republic of Congo," the CSDI project worked with rural radios platforms such as Radio Ntemo and Vu Vu Kieto, and with community farmer organisations.
9. Biosciences for Farming in Africa (B4FA) - Ghana, Tanzania, Nigeria, and Uganda
Launched in late 2012, the 6-month Biosciences for Farming in Africa (B4FA) project was committed to bridging the gap between science and the public by promoting better understanding and dialogue on developments in agriculture and biosciences throughout Africa. The aim was to encourage dialogue and to promote a better understanding of the available options for improving agricultural productivity in 4 African countries: Ghana, Tanzania, Nigeria, and Uganda. The hope was that media reportage on science and agriculture-related issues (addressing food production challenges, for instance) would be enhanced by the end of the project.
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10. Emerging Voices in ICT and Agriculture: Shaping the Future of ACP Rural Development Using ICTs... [October, 2012]
This booklet, published by the Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation (CTA) African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP)-European Union (EU), features 20 young people and three organisations that have been involved in the CTA youth project called ARDYIS (Agriculture Rural Development and Youth in the Information Society). In addition to portraying authors and highlighting their perspectives on youth involvement in agriculture using information and communication technologies (ICTs), the document presents summaries of best essays submitted for the contest "Youth finding solutions to challenges in agriculture and rural development using ICTs!", organised in 2010. Youth, aged from 18 to 25 years old, were invited to submit entries in four categories. The report also presents the results of the Youth in Agriculture Blog Competition (YoBloCo Awards), awarded in May 2012. This contest aimed to highlight the issues, successes, and challenges faced by young people in agriculture and to encourage the production of information and the use of ICTs by young farmers' groups and organisations interested in the topic.
11. Focus on... ICTs in Agriculture [September, 2012]
Featured in New Agriculturist, this series of articles focuses on how ICTs in developing countries are helping to increase the efficiency, productivity, and sustainability of smallscale farms, providing up-to-date information on prices, access to credit and training, and the ability to interact with other farmers - often bridging the gap between scientific research and the public. New Agriculturist covers a wide range of stories and issues around agriculture and rural development across the globe. It is designed to keep online readers - scientists, development professionals, policymakers, lecturers, students, and the media - abreast of trends, results, and innovation in agricultural development, particularly in Africa but also in Asia and Latin America.
12. ICT for Rural Economic Development: Five Years of Learning [March, 2012]
This report examines the experiences of the International Institute for Communication and Development (IICD) with using ICT to support agriculture, economic development, and livelihood opportunities in Bolivia, Burkina Faso, Ecuador, Ghana, Mali, Uganda, and Zambia. According to IICD, all of its projects flow out of strategic collaboration between IICD and partner organisations in the countries, including farmer associations and producers' cooperatives. This publication summarises the main lessons learned through this collaboration between 2006 and 2010.
13. Connected Agriculture: The Role of Mobile in Driving Efficiency and Sustainability in the Food and Agriculture Value Chain [September, 2011]
In this report, Vodafone and Accenture, working in collaboration with Oxfam GB, identify 12 opportunities for mobile phone technology to increase agricultural income and productivity. According to the report, mobile communications can help to meet the challenge of feeding an estimated 9.2 billion around the globe by 2050. The 12 specific opportunities explored in this study could increase agricultural income by around US$138 billion across 26 of Vodafone's markets in 2020. This report was produced to stimulate the engagement between mobile operators, governments, non-governmental organisations, and businesses to realise these opportunities and explore others.
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THE ROLE OF WOMEN AND YOUTH IN AGRICULTURE
14. ARDYIS (Agriculture Rural Development and Youth in the Information Society)
The purpose of ARDYIS is to raise youth awareness and capacity on agricultural and rural development issues in African, Caribbean, and Pacific (ACP) countries through ICTs. More specifically, it works to strengthen the capacities of youth on ICTs for development issues, particularly in the agricultural and rural sector, as well as to contribute to sensitising youth on questions related to agriculture and rural development in ACP countries. The goal is to contribute to the promotion of opportunities for youth in ACP countries in the sectors of agriculture, rural development, and ICT. Launched in May 2010, ARDYIS is a project of the Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation (CTA).
15. Strengthening Rural Youth Employment Opportunities in ICTs and Agriculture in Southern Africa (SOFIA) Project - Southern Africa
Launched in April 2013, the Strengthening Rural Youth Employment Opportunities in ICTs and Agriculture in Southern Africa (SOFIA) Project is working to strengthen rural youth employment opportunities in agriculture and information and communication technologies (ICTS). SOFIA is supporting youth training centres and young farmer groups to make more effective use of ICTs to enhance employment and business opportunities. The project is led by the Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation (CTA), through its ARDYIS project, in collaboration with the Ndola Youth Resource Centre, Lulote Business Management Extension Programme, and Farmers Forum for Trade and Social Justice.
16. Training Guide: Gender and Climate Change Research in Agriculture and Food Security for Rural Development [January, 2012]
By Sibyl Nelson, with inputs by Moushumi Chaudhury
The purpose of this guide is to promote gender-responsive and socially-sensitive climate change research and development in the agriculture and food security sectors through participatory approaches. It provides agricultural development professionals and other readers with resources and participatory action research (PAR) tools for collecting, analysing, and sharing gender-sensitive information about agricultural communities, households, and individuals who are facing climate changes. Tested by researchers in Bangladesh, Uganda, and Ghana, the guide was jointly developed by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS) of the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR).
17. Gender Dimensions of Agricultural and Rural Employment: Differentiated Pathways out of Poverty - Status, Trends and Gaps [January, 2011]
This paper on the gender dimension of agricultural work finds that women still benefit less than men from rural employment and face challenges due to current economic and food crises. It is based on the premise that decent work can be a means to achieve equitable, inclusive, and sustainable development. The report emerged out of a collaboration between by the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), and the International Labour Office (ILO) following two years of work begun in 2009. Designed to encourage maximum interaction among participants, three main topics were discussed during the joint assessment: key gender issues, gaps in knowledge, data and approach, and policy implications.
18. What Works for Women: Proven Approaches for Empowering Women Smallholders and Achieving Food Security [March, 2012]
Nine international development agencies produced this briefing to share the lessons learned based on their experience of promoting gender equality and working with women smallholders and rural women over many decades. The involved agencies are: ActionAid International, CARE, Christian Aid, Concern Worldwide, Find Your Feet, Oxfam, Practical Action, Save the Children, and Self Help Africa. The conclusion was that "...despite their wealth of knowledge and capacity, women farmers are neglected by policy makers, often not being recognised as 'productive' farmers. Their farm work is frequently unpaid or undervalued; they tend to be excluded from decision-making; and they do not have equal access to land and other resources, credit, markets, education, extension services and inputs."
19. Women’s Empowerment in Agriculture Index (WEAI) [February, 2012]
Women's Empowerment in Agriculture Index (WEAI) is a measure designed to directly capture women's empowerment and inclusion levels in the agricultural sector. The WEAI aims to increase understanding of the connections between women’s empowerment, food security, and agricultural growth. The index is the product of a partnership between the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), and the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative (OPHI) of Oxford University, in support of US President Obama’s Feed the Future initiative to combat global hunger and poverty.
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20. ICT for Agriculture Conference (Nov 4 - 8 2013) - Kigali, Rwanda
Co-hosted by the Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation (CTA) and the Rwandan Ministry of Agriculture and Animal Resources (MINAGRI), this international conference offers participants the opportunity to discover opportunities and ICTs in the field of agriculture. Representing the public and private sector in Africa, the Caribbean and Pacific, and further afield, delegates will discuss how increased investment and adoption of ICTs in the agricultural sector will contribute to improved value chains as well as more effective advocacy and policy processes in agricultural and rural development. In addition, they will share ideas and knowledge, and discuss new approaches, best practices and experiences. Issues related to ICT trends and their impact on agriculture, capacity building, enabling environments, scaling up, and sustainability will also be discussed.
THE SOUL BEAT ARCHIVES
For previous related Soul Beat e-newsletters, see:
The Soul Beat 203- Communicating for Food Security
The Soul Beat 176 - Communication for Agriculture and Food Security
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