Rural Communication Services

World Radio Day 2024: Empowering communities through rural radio initiatives in Africa
Rural Communication Services

YenKasa Africa celebrates World Radio Day (13 February) with its Rural Radio initiative for sustainable agriculture and rural development. The theme for this year is “Radio: A century of information, entertainment, and education”.  The Rural Radio Initiative of YenKasa Africa 2023 was conducted in a participatory approach. Community and associative media, development institutions, and farmers’ organizations actively participated in radio programming from program conception, theme definition, and selection of interviewees

Improving Ghanaian women farmers’ access to agricultural advisory services
Rural Communication Services

When Linda Aduwaa thinks back to last year, one thing stands out: how women in her community were treated. Linda has been farming rice and maize for the past 15 years. The mother of five says that only a year ago, men refused to help with household chores. Women couldn’t own their own land independently of men. They weren’t even able to attend agricultural advisory meetings about improving farming practices

FAO and YenKasa Africa participatory video training in agri-food systems and digital environments
Rural Communication Services

In November 2023, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) joined hands with several organizations to host a groundbreaking 5-day virtual training workshop on participatory video for Africa in November 2023. This event, attended by over 30 participants from different farmers’ organizations, academia, and advocacy groups, marked a significant step toward harnessing the potential of PV as a tool for sustainable development. Most of the participants came from countries with

Seeds and storage: How radio reduced post-harvest loss of potatoes in Nigeria
Rural Communication Services

Bitrus Gomas used to regularly lose nearly half his produce. The 51-year-old potato farmer lives in Pankshin Local Government Area in Plateau State in central Nigeria. He is married with four children. Mr. Gomas is not alone. In Nigeria, up to 40 per cent of stored potato seeds are lost within the first three months of storage due to inadequate storage conditions. Post-harvest loss (the loss of crops between harvest and

Ten success factors for rural digital transformation in Africa
Rural Communication Services

The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)’s Digital Villages Initiative (DVI) aims to turn 1,000 villages globally into hubs where digitally-enabled farm and non-farm services are provided, such as e-commerce, farmer advisory services leveraging satellite information and digital financial inclusion activities. In Africa, nine countries are involved so far. Scoping assessment studies and early service delivery have identified 10 success factors for rural digital transformation in Africa. Implementers of the DVI

Farm Radio International Uganda’s “Platform” project transforming agricultural extension services across the country
Rural Communication Services

Once a week, Green Leaf Radio Magazine’s catchy theme song plays on radios across Uganda. As more listeners pour in every week, they are greeted by a number of segments including news and weather, but most importantly tips on how to improve their farming practices. To say that farming in Uganda is vital to the average citizen’s economic security is an understatement : 88 per cent of Ugandan households are involved in the

Sharing farmers' stories on World Food Day - and every day
Rural Communication Services

Farm Radio International has been sharing stories about the experiences and expertise of small-scale farmers since our founding in May 1979. To further put a spotlight on farmers, we created an online news publication – Barza Wire – in 2007. Last year, we celebrated our 600th issue. Find Barza Wire at: https://wire.farmradio.fm/ Each edition of Barza Wire includes stories about the innovations and experiences of small-scale farmers. Most of these

Malian broadcaster serves farmers with informative, interesting, interactive radio programs
Rural Communication Services

Seydou Camara describes himself as a “country lover.” And, as the son of a farmer, he knows a lot about agriculture. These qualities help him to prepare his radio programs, and particularly to prepare for field visits. Mr. Camara has worked at Radio Wassoulou in Yanfolila, Mali, for nearly 10 years, where he is a host. “Naturally, I like to serve people and in my opinion, media is a great

Apply for the Liz Hughes Award for Her Farm Radio
Rural Communication Services

The Liz Hughes Award for Her Farm Radio recognizes excellent radio programs that serve women listeners. Winning radio programs explore and advance gender equality; for example, by sharing the experiences and opinions of women, addressing topics of importance to women, underlining the role of men in gender equality, etc. The award is given to the team of people who make this program happen, including the manager(s), producer(s), host(s), presenter(s), reporter(s), technician(s), and

Small-scale farmers use radio and mobile phones to tell decision makers what they need to succeed in a changing climate
Rural Communication Services

Though climate change, food system shocks and inflation are intensifying the challenges faced by small-scale farmers in sub-Saharan Africa, they want to remain in their homes. According to a report released today, migration is the least viable option for African small-scale farmers. Of the thousands of farmers who participated in the four-country survey, around half also said that affordability, the availability of jobs and access to inputs had improved since