Communicating Science for Impact: Radio for Reaching Farmers with Research Results (CultiAF)
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Radio is an effective medium to deliver information that will influence small-scale farmers in sub-Saharan Africa to adopt agricultural technologies.Más información
Radio is an effective medium to deliver information that will influence small-scale farmers in sub-Saharan Africa to adopt agricultural technologies. This project will use radio campaigns to speed up the delivery and adoption of promising agriculture and food security innovations from two projects: insects for fish, and poultry feed and pre-cooked beans for food and income. Radio to share results The project will translate research results into simple radio campaign messages targeting small-scale farmers. Researchers will test the effectiveness of interactive radio programs and mobile phones in communicating and sharing research results and products. They will also identify ways to scale up the use of the most promising results. The project will reach more than 650,000 listeners with information and research products that people can use. A target of 80,000 of the total listeners are expected to act on the radio campaign's knowledge and innovations to improve production, marketing, consumption, and income. The project will assess the effect of radio campaigns in influencing adoption decisions among listeners. Farm Radio International will implement the project in selected areas of Uganda and Kenya. It will develop new resources and toolkits for broadcasters, then distribute them to more than 570 radio stations across Africa. The project is funded through the Cultivate Africa's Future Fund (CultiAF), a joint program of the Australian International Food Security Research Centre of the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research and IDRC. CultiAF supports research to achieve long-term food security in Eastern and Southern Africa.
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The Cultivate Africa’s Future (CultiAF) project is working with community listener groups (CLGs) to improve interactivity and to provide a regular, reliable and near real-time feedback mechanism, and increase women’s involvement in radio broadcasts. Two hundred and forty female CLG members have been trained in Farm Radio International’s “Her Voice on Air” strategy. Over the course of the radio programs, listener engagement has increased with more female than male farmers showing interest in testing research recommendations.
This one-page project brief outlines how the “Radio for Reaching Farmers with Research Results 4R” project will use interactive radio strategies to ensure research from two CultiAF projects – integrating insects into poultry and fish feed, and quick-cooking bean products – can reach farmers and consumers in rural Kenya and Uganda. Communication strategies will be developed to reach rural people involved in small-scale poultry, bean and fish production by broadcasting relevant research findings/practices, and encouraging their uptake. Farm Radio International provides a range of radio and ICT tools and methods to ensure research is heard about and used by farmers.
The project intended to assess interactive radio as a means to communicate research findings directly to farmers and end-users. Results show that radio is an effective and efficient means for scaling out improved agricultural practices to farmers and audiences, improving knowledge and application. The report details radio programs over two years as well as audience response. The project succeeded in developing the capacity of radio stations to produce and air relevant interactive radio programs. Continuous monitoring for quality and accuracy has ensured excellent programs which have attracted good sized audiences and produced impressive results in uptake of new agricultural research.
The Farm Radio International (FRI) project was able to promote adoption of agricultural innovations and research results from two Cultivate Africa’s Future (CultiAf) projects – integrating insects into poultry and fish feed (INSFEED), and quick-cooking bean products – through the use of interactive radio programs. Too often, agricultural research results are published in journals and discussed at conferences, but fail to influence policy or reach farmers’ fields and consumers. Interactive radio proves to be an effective means of linking farmers with researchers and reaching wide audiences with research results in real-time.
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