Transcript RURAL RADIO IN AGRICULTURAL EXTENSION: THE EXAMPLE

RURAL RADIO IN AGRICULTURAL EXTENSION: THE
EXAMPLE OF
VERNACULAR RADIO PROGRAMMES ON SOIL AND
WATER
CONSERVATION IN N. GHANA
Robert Chapman, Roger Blench, Gordana Kranjac-Berisavljevic’
and A.B.T. Zakariah
Week 4 Lecture Notes
CSE 590F
Contents
• Background
• Case Study
• Conclusions
Radio in the developing world
• Rich history in developing world
– Experiments began in 1940s
– Rural radio in 1960s (centrally managed)
– Community radio in late 1980s
• Established benefits in many domains
– Health, education, politics, entertainment
• Cheap, widely available
Difficulties with community radio
projects
• Requires donor or government subsidies
• Media often tightly controlled by government
– Licenses can be difficult or impossible to obtain
• Administration of station can get bogged
down in local politics
– Choice of language, staffing, location, etc
Community Audio Tower System
(CATS)
• ‘narrowcasting’ technology - karaoke
equipment and an amplifier with microphones
in a studio linked to a metallic tower with allweather loudspeakers.
• Works well in dense rural areas
– Receivers not needed
• Cost is about $2000
• Case studies demonstrate effectiveness
Discussion
• What are the strengths and weaknesses of
radio as a means of sharing information?
• What are the strengths and weaknesses of
radio in terms of scalability?
• How can other ICTs be combined with radio to
make it better?
Major Trends in Agricultural Extension
in the Developing World
• Shift to a more advisory and facilitation-based
approach (Roling, 1995).
– Requires understanding of community perspective
• Innovations in communication to improve the
points of interaction between research,
extension and farmer to encourage a greater
sharing of information.
– Replace one-way technology transfer approach
– Requires ICT improvements
Discussion
• Is radio a good choice for addressing these
two challenges of agricultural extension?
Experience with rural radio and
agricultural extension
• Can generally demonstrate good results
• Cost can be relatively high
– $1000/person for multimedia rural radio campaign in
SE Asia,
– $0.07/person for comparable mass media campaign
– Room for improvement with partnerships
• Creating content requires greater effort
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Local language
Hearing voice of friends and neighbors
Dramas, music, other entertaining formats
Must appeal to men and women
Discussion
• What lessons can we learn from these
experience with rural radio?
• Can we achieve similar results with other
technologies?
• Is it cost effective?
• How can partnerships improve cost and
effectiveness?
Ghana case study
• Set up rural radio stations covering 18 rural
villages, 6 local languages, combined population
of 90,000
• Programming centered around a drama centered
around agricultural themes, followed by
discussion
• 3 surveys
– One before program to asses knowledge and attitudes
– One after to assess comprehension
– One at harvest to assess compliance
Results
• For the most part farmers were already following the
advice of the radio program
• About 75% of participants understood the content very
well
• All of the farmers remembered that burning was bad
– Belief was reinforced, not influenced by radio
• 61% did not cut trees on their farms, 31% did
– 94% said radio influenced their decision
• Farmers enjoyed the program
– Especially drama and discussions
• Generally improved understanding of agricultural principles
Discussion
• Was this a well-conducted study?
• How could it have been improved?
Conclusions
• Need policies that make rural radio easier to
implement
• “Rural radio should represent the sort of
legitimate low-cost, high-impact expenditure that
governments and donors continue to support.”
• Potential for improvement when combined with
other ICTs
• Good approach for agricultural extension, but
many challenges to implementing it well
Discussion
• Any other conclusions?