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| Luso Listener Club maize and tomato farm |
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| Tree nursery for Listener Club afforestation project |
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| Luso Listener Club dance to the official FVR tune composed by the group for FVR programming on the Malawi Broadcasting Corporation (MBC) |
Wednesday, 10 April 2013
FVR: MAKING A DIFFERENCE IN WOTALA VILLAGE
FVR AG-TIPS DECREASE POST HARVEST LOSSES IN MCHINJI
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| Chief Kacheta: Leading by example |
When Farmer Voice Radio (FVR) started hitting Mudzi Wathu Community Radio Station’s airwaves with Agricultural Tips (AgTips) on timely harvesting and methods of harvesting that minimize losses (including information on how to transport, dry, shell, treat, and store maize effectively), Chief Kacheta of Kacheta Village in Mchinji, Malawi, decided to lead by example.He was one of the very first people in his village to break away from the traditional practice of delayed harvesting that exposes yields to theft, weevil, termite and rats attack, thereby increasing post harvest losses.
“I like listening to radio”, the Chief said. “... FVR AgTips on Mudzi Wathu Community Radio Station have really helped me appreciate that timely harvesting would improve my yields”.
After following the precise advice given in the AgTips, Chief Kacheta harvested 9½ ox-carts compared to only 5½ ox-carts that he usually harvested using the old practice. The Chief explained that the people in his village saw the benefit of timely harvesting and decided to follow his example. “Right now about 200 of the 250 households (over 80%) in my village have already harvested their maize this year”, he notes.
Pulasedesi Phiri, a widow with six children, is living testimony of the transformation that FVR AgTips have brought to Kacheta village. For the past two years, she only managed to harvest less than 1½ ox-carts per year: an inadequate amount to feed her family. Her low yields were predominantly due to delayed harvesting that led to termites, weevils, rat attack, and theft.
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| Mrs Phiri with some of her children |
Her story is different this year. For the first time as a single parent, she has harvested 3½ ox-carts. “This is unbelievable! As you can see, my granary is filled to the brim”, Mrs Phiri boasts with a broad smile. Mrs Phiri attributes her success to two major interventions: the farm input subsidy program implemented by the Government, and FVR Ag Tips on timely harvesting and recommended methods of harvesting, broadcast on Mudzi Wathu Community Radio Station.
“When I listened to the AgTips for the first time,” she said, “I thought to myself, this is one of those things we listen to and let go”. However, after hearing the messages numerous times, she decided to try them out.
Mrs Phiri applauds her chief for leading by example. She appeals to her fellow farmers, particularly women, to listen to and implement FVR messages being broadcast on Mudzi Wathu Community Radio Station so that they too can improve their lives.
GOVERNMENT RECOGNIZES AND SUPPORTS FVR AGRICULTURE EXTENSION STRATEGY IN MALAWI
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| Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, Prof. Peter Mwanza (center) in maize field with Mr. Zondawako Chagoma (left), an FVR Listener Club member |
For an Extension Planning Area (EPA) to qualify for the Minister of Agriculture’s annual crop inspection tour in Malawi, it takes great effort and resources. Each EPA presents a farmer profile to the Director of Agricultural services (DAES), Dr Grace Malinda. Based on these profiles, Dr Malinda selects the country’s top three farmers, and undertakes a final site inspection to confirm which farmer will receive the Minister’s visit.
Dr Malinda visited Chipoka EPA on December 23, 2010. Chipoka is one of three Farmer Voice Radio (FVR) community sites under the Malawi Broadcasting Corporation (MBC) in Lilongwe. The site has six Listener Clubs, set up by FVR, and another four self-started Listener Clubs that arose after the broadcast of an FVR Listener Club Campaign. Highly impressed with what she saw, Dr Malinda invited other EPAs to visit the site and plans were confirmed for the Minister’s visit to the area.
Mr. Zondawako Chagoma, an FVR Radio Farmer and member of the Chipoka FVR Listener Club, hosted the Minister of Agriculture and Food Security Professor, Peter Mwanza, on January 12, 2011, and showed him around his farm. Mr. Chagoma testified that most of what he showcased on his farm was as a result of his attachment to Chipoka Listener Club and the fact that he followed the agricultural advice given through FVR programs. “I… followed the MBC [Malawi Broadcasting Corporation] Farmer Voice Radio NARA[National Agriculture Radio Agenda]-based programs on star practices, which included… one-one planting of maize, manure making and application, crop diversification, agroforestry, use of hybrid seeds, and conservation agriculture” he recalls. As an FVR Radio Farmer, Mr. Chagoma’s practices are broadcast nation-wide, through the FVR “megaphone”, for other smallholder farmers to learn from.
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| Chipoka Radio Listener Club |
During his speech, the Minister stated that, “The Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security not only supports FVR’s work at Ministry level but also recognizes the contribution FVR is making at [a] local level”. The Ministers’ sentiments were echoed when Dr Malinda reported at a subsequent FVR Project Steering Committee meeting that the Ministry was very happy with the manner in which FVR radio stations help to disseminate information regarding government subsidy distribution programs to smallholder farmers through FVR programming. “It is a wonderful partnership”, she said, with appreciation.
FVR RADIO FARMER SHARES HIS KNOWLEDGE WITH OTHER FARMERS ACROSS KENYA
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| Mr. Kanyingi explains a point about bee keeping at his farm in Machakos |
Sospeter Kanyingi, an FVR Radio Farmer from Machakos, Kenya, has been keeping bees for the past five years. He received training from the National Bee Keeping Institute in Nairobi, where he received expert information about bees that helped him to improve the way he operates his enterprise. In October 2010, Mr. Kanyingi was interviewed by FVR and the recording was broadcast on the Kenya Broadcasting Corporation’s (KBC) Kiswahili service. He talked about the benefits of bee keeping and various bee products.
From the time the program went on air, Mr. Kanyingi started receiving calls from farmers across the country. He estimates that he received over 60 calls within three months of the first broadcast, with some listeners making repeat calls to get further information. Two farmer groups in Western and Northern Kenya invited him to teach them about bee keeping, even offering to meet the costs for his travel.
“The radio is a teacher that reaches very far without being seen,” says Mr. Kanyingi. He recognizes the importance of radio as a source of agricultural information, as farmers hear and learn from fellow farmers. He reports that the farmers who have called have tried the recommended practices, as they first tell him what they know before requesting further information.
As an FVR Radio Farmer, Mr Kanyingi feels that his knowledge is valued by other farmers. His experience with FVR has encouraged him to undertake more research on bees so that he can be more resourceful. “From their questions, the farmers have made me aware that I have knowledge that is useful for them; something I previously took for granted”, he says.
KENYA: YOUNG FARMERS SERVE AS ROLE MODELS TO OTHER YOUTH
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| The Meganjo Youth Group working around their greenhouse |
The Meganjo Youth Group in Nyeri (Central Kenya) came together with the purpose of helping one another succeed through carrying out agricultural income generating activities. The youth initially grew and marketed sukuma wiki (kale) as a group. However, lack of access to capital and land hampered their success.
Impressed with the enthusiasm of the young people, the local assistant chief awarded them a piece of land for construction of a greenhouse. The 23 members received training from a greenhouse expert and a Farmer Voice Radio (FVR) Radio Extension Officer (REO), on greenhouse husbandry and small business skills. They have subsequently implemented various practices that they have heard on FVR programming, including harvesting rain water for drip irrigation to ensure a good tomato yield. The youth hope to generate approximately Ksh 70,000 ($850) per month from May to August from the sale of their tomatoes.
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| Young farmers prepare a tomato seedbed for their greenhouse |
The youth group members are excited that their voices are being heard on the radio and that they are role models for other youth. They plan to expand their activities to poultry production and other horticultural products (such as sweet pepper, which is of high demand in the local market), having heard about these types of farming from FVR programs.
A FAMILY STANDS TALL IN THE COMMUNITY AFTER IMPLEMENTING VARIOUS FVR AND BMGF GRANTEE PRACTICES
Mr. and Mrs. Gichomo, small-scale farmers from Central Kenya, have benefitted in multiple ways from implementing various agricultural practices that they learned about on Farmer Voice Radio (FVR) programming.
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| Mr. and Mrs. Gichomo on their farm |
Bernard (a retired chief in the area) and Lucy Gichomo first became interested in FVR programming after Lucy shared what she had heard on Coro FM, about treating and recycling waste water from the kitchen, bathroom, and clothes washing, with her husband. The agricultural tip (AgTip) promoted the use of domestic water, treated with ash from the fireplace, to irrigate crops. The Gichomos implemented this practice and were able to irrigate the sukuma wiki (kale) crop in their kitchen garden throughout the dry season, as a result.
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| Bernard Gichomo at the Michuki Technical Institute Garden |
Subsequent AgTips on double digging (a technique whereby soil in a seedbed is loosened into two layers and organic material, such as manure and ashes, is added) prompted the Gichomos to implement this practice, even though they had not adopted it after Mr. Gichomo received face-to-face training two years previously. Following FVR programming, they applied the technique to their kitchen garden seedbed in which they grow their kale crop, thereby ensuring that the crop received necessary air, water and nutrients. Thanks to the adoption of these two practices, Mr. and Mrs. Gichomo were able to grow their kale crop during the dry season, harvest their crop at a time when this vegetable was not available in the region, and sell their kale at an average profit of Ksh1,000 per week.
The Gichomo’s story drew the attention of FVR radio personnel through reports from the area’s FVR Radio Extension Officer (REO). Journalists from Coro FM interviewed Mr. and Mrs. Gichomo and broadcast their testimonial on FVR. When asked to reveal the magic behind their success, Mr. Gichomo, a member of the gender advisory panel in his community, replied, “We do it together, sharing roles and responsibilities equitably among ourselves”. Mr. and Mrs. Gichomo believe that their relationship has improved since they started appreciating each others’ efforts and sharing the labor more equitably. “We now save more money from agricultural activities and the family diet has improved. We benefit from the work of our hands,” says Mr. Gichomo. Mrs. Gichomo reports that she has attended seminars on agriculture and women’s issues and her husband has always been supportive. “He never complains [as] I always share what I learn with him. Many husbands would not allow their wives to do that. [However], they end up losing, for lack of information will always hold the family back,” says Mrs. Gichomo.
During the interview with Coro FM, Mr. Gichomo discussed both the management of kale and simple techniques to maintain kitchen gardens. After the program went on air, the Michuki Technical Training Institute contacted Mr. Gichomo and asked him to help them establish a kitchen garden on the college farm grounds. The head of catering, Mrs. Muya, states that the Institute has made a lot of savings since the garden was established. “It is… a great lesson to the students to see [what] a simple method of farming can achieve”, she reports.
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| Mrs. Gichomo feeding her cows |
Mr. Gichomo advises farmers to adopt kitchen gardens to save them the cost of purchasing vegetables, and to ensure that they have a proper, nutritious diet.
“It is unacceptable that farmers should buy small things like onions, vegetables and carrots for home consumption when they can grow them on a small plot. They should save the money for other necessities”, he states.
Mr. and Mrs. Gichomo have benefitted from FVR programming in other ways. After adopting practices promulgated by the East Africa Dairy Development (EADD) project on FVR, the Gichomos have managed to upgrade one of their cows to intermediate level, and have obtained certification for the cow. They also followed EADD advice on providing salt licks to their cattle continuously, and now report a drastic improvement in feed consumption.The Gichomos have had a positive influence on their community, who have learnt from them and are applying this knowledge to their own farming practices.
RADIO AGRICULTURAL EXTENSION SERVICES HELP THE DISABLED
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| Mr Mwangi with a notbook listeneing to FVR |
A paucity of agricultural extension officers in Kenya has rendered this service rare or unavailable to many farmers. However, Mwangi Kiringithi accesses this service from another source: he listens to agricultural programs on the radio. Every time that he listens to a radio program, he makes detailed notes for future reference. “Radio has been my extension officer”, says Mr. Kiringithi, who has put into practice innovative agricultural practices and techniques about which he has learned. With the new impact-driven Farmer Voice Radio (FVR) programs broadcast on Coro FM, Mr. Kiringithi reports benefiting further from FVR Agricultural Tips (AgTips) that are brief and relevant.
Mr. Kiringithi is the secretary of a group of farmers with various disabilities in Mathira, Nyeri District, in Kenya. The group is engaged in a variety of agricultural activities and they are passionate about listening to the radio. Members phone each other to listen to agricultural radio programs together, particularly when there is an interesting topic on air. A few group members specifically purchased cellular phones with radio receivers so that they would not miss important programs.
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| Mr Mwangi`s greenhouse |
Mr. Kiringithi and his group demonstrate that radio can be an effective mechanism for distributing extension services, and that people with disabilities can make an important contribution in their families and their communities.
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