August 11, 2014

ACA 431-EDUCATIONAL BROADCASTING

Pls. refer to Asst. Prof. Macario G. Gayeta, MAEd, NC II, Ed. D. cand.

FROM AGRICULTURAL RADIO TO RADIO FORUMS

Radio Farm Forum is a government-initiated ICT project to enable rural farmers to

communicate effectively with the Ministry of Agriculture.

1. Zambia- The Ministry of Agriculture and Comparatives (MACO) has put a lot of effort

in running Radio Farm Forum (RFF) program as a means and way to develop the

Agricultural sector through information dissemination. In order to make the government

responsive to the demands of rural agricultural development, the Republic of Zambia

embarked on an economic development program to fill in the gap of illiteracy and

introduced functional literacy. The case study of Petauke district is an investigation into

the impact of RFF program on agricultural development among rural farming

communities in Zambia,Petauke district was purposefully selected because it has a high

number of active radio listening groups to this radio program that is aired by Zambia

National Broadcasting Cooperation but produced by National Agricultural Information

Service in seven local languages.

2. Canada- The broadcast topics ranged from agricultural policy and international

trade to community and family life. Families would gather in each other‟s‟ homes,

community halls, school houses or church basements to listen to the broadcast and

discuss the issues presented. They were aided with a publication called the Farm Forum

Guide which they received prior to the broadcast. The guide presented different sets of

questions for both adults and youth to discuss. Following the discussion, the

participants were encouraged to report to their Provincial Farm Forum Office the results

of their discussion and these were tabulated and reported for five minutes of the

following week‟s broadcast. This allowed the listeners to take part in their education by

sharing views and ideas across the country.

3. Australia - The Australian Broadcasting Authority (ABA) lists down criteria for

Community Radio such as: a) Non-profit motive; b) Represent community interest. c)

Encourage members to participate and so on. There are approximately 200 licensed

community radio stations in Australia. They are not only well monitored, but also

provided grants for maintenance. There are two types of stations: 1) catering to the

geographical community and 2) those serving the community. The three main trends

emerging through my recent research on community-based media in Australia can be

described as enterprise development, diversification, and the incorporation of new

technologies, the last often as a means of the first two. of interests. The Community

Radio center‟s try their best to be self-supporting and reach the local people effectively.

„Radio Goolari‟ is an aboriginal radio station in Broome, Western Australia.

4. South Africa - South Africa has also introduced community radio with more

progressive broadcasting policies. Through ALX FM and Radio KC in Paarl, South Africa,

50 miles north-east of Cape Town were doing fairly well and trying to tackle key social

issues such as AIDS, crime and juvenile crime.

5. Nepal – There are 3 types of radio organizations in Nepal (Cooperative station, non-

government organization and local radio)

1) Radio Lumbini, Butwal is a cooperative model radio with about 100

shareholders contributed about Rs.20000 each to set up the nation in 1998. The station

is owned managed and operated by this cooperative. There are paid staff and

volunteers who make the programme and with infrastructural support from DANIDA

and UNESCO, they broadcast for about 12 hours a day, includes four local news bulletins

a day and a range of programmes on health, agriculture, gender equality, children‟s

education and good governance.

2) Radio Madanpokhara was initially funded by UNESCO owned by the village

development committee. The station went on air in April 2000 with the support of a

trust fund constituted by 65 members, each of whom paid Rs.1000. It has also collected

Rs.400000 to build a radio station, while running costs are met through donations. With

a 100-watt transmitter, 400,000 listeners‟ are monitoring in Palpa and seven surrounding

districts. The station has been playing an active role in development to improve forestry

and farming and the environment as well as to eliminate social discrimination, injustice,

and superstition.

3) Radio Sagarmatha is located in Katmandu Valley owned and managed by

Nepal Forum of Environmental Journalists (NFEJ). This station was started with the

support of UNESCO and has been a source of inspiration to the community radio

movement in South Asia. Since it started broadcasting in 1997, radio Sagarmatha

assume the mandate of covering and discussing issues of public significance.. It also

broadcasts programmes in minority languages, on folk and contemporary music as well

as women, children, and semi-urban listeners. Sagarmatha means Mount Everest in

Nepali, and continues to be on top of the world for its unique bearing in the field of

community radio.

6. Afghanistan – There are infrastructural facility of basic amenities for its 37,000

villages in Afghanistan who are marginalized people. Hardly 4% for household have

electricity and even in big cities the telecommunication infrastructure is also poor.

7. Philippines- There are over 328 AM and 317 FM community radio stations fairly.

They cater to different communities in the countryside.

8. Thailand – The communities in Thailand cannot set up station because parliament

has not yet passed laws on telecommunications.

9. India - Popularly known as “Radio Farm Forum” was one of the earliest efforts in the

use of radio for the development of rural peasants in India. The experiment was carried

out from February to April 1956 in five districts of Maharashtra state by All India Radio

(AIR). Rural listener groups were organized, who would listen to radio broadcasts twice a

week at 6.30 p.m. for half an hour. The group then stayed together for discussion of

what they had heard, the discussion lasted usually, about half an hour, seldom less,

frequently more listening to radio sets.

10. Bangladesh - The importance of harnessing ICTs for development is realized, yet

Bangladesh coastal NGOs network for radio and communication trust (BGNN),

complains that this medium gets step motherly treatment, It is feared that radio if used

for building awareness among the citizens of this region, may create problem for

maintaining the elite‟s dominance.

11. Ghana- From the eve of independence in 1956, Radio-Accra began using Ghanaian

languages and organized programmes for rural people. For two years, a weekly

programme was broadcast, called "The cocoa family" devoted to life in cocoa

plantations. In 1957, discussions on agriculture were broadcast on Radio Ghana in

English.

12. Benin- Radio Dahomey was broadcasting a special programme in Fon language

against felling palm trees from 1960-1961, it was during that year that the Dahomey

Government called FAO to conceive an agricultural radio service. This radio service

worked in collaboration with the agriculture directorate based in Porto-Novo; the pilot

project started in 1967 and used six languages for its programmes dealing with planting

palm trees, development of maize fields and the introduction of rice and cotton.

13. Niger - the creation of the Radio Club Association in 1962 and the launching of its

first programmes in 1965 were not far from the agricultural radio policy. Subjects related

to selecting seeds, preparing soil, fertilizers, bovine bits were predominant among

themes which also dealt with other subjects such as commercialization of food products,

irrigated agriculture, water hygiene, women at home, the National Assembly, animal

traction agriculture, etc.

14. Nigeria - Radio Kaduna, a programme for farmers, broadcasts programmes

encouraging agricultural mechanization and the use of new types of seed.

15. Kenya - the programme "education through radio" broadcasts advice on

agriculture since 1962.

16. Cameroon - Radio broadcast featuring advises on agriculture are broadcast in

Fulani and Haoussa by regional stations since 1966.

17. Ivory Coast - The programme called "The National Cup for Progress" created in

1966 mixes dissemination of information on agriculture, traditional music and

competition between sub-districts in an effort to improve agricultural production and

social conditions.

18. Ethiopia - Radio is found to be the most preferred mass medium to support

development efforts in Ethiopia simply because the majority of Ethiopians are farmers

while the country‟s level of illiteracy is significantly high.

4 Major constraints of the radio-clubs/radio farm forum

1. Lack of permanent facilitators' network in direct contact with villagers and animators;

only written reports achieved contact;

2. The production center was also isolated from listening groups and did not benefit

from the necessary feedback for progression of the radio programme;

3. There was also a lack of coordination between rural radio programmes and other

projects prepared by other ministries or by other non-governmental organizations (the

everlasting question of inter-ministerial technical committees);

4. The clubs have often been set up without first identifying a need from the

communities or without involving those who are first concerned; after the fascination

phase, one moves quickly to the phase of criticism, then saturation and this leads to the

disinvestment of radio club members.

Meanwhile, the proclamation by the UN General Assembly of 2014 as the

International Year of Family Farming is a recognition of the important role small

farmers play. Smallholding farms are part of the solution for a world free from hunger

and poverty.

According to Hiroyuki Konuma, FAO‟s representative for Asia and the Pacific, the

IYFF is a window of opportunity to further raise awareness, advocate relevant policies

and establish multi-stakeholder platforms for policy dialogue.

References

Ilboudo, J. P. (4 August 2014). Rural radio: Role and use over the past three decades.

Retrieved from http://www.fao.org/docrep/003/x6721e/x6721e02.htm

Mohammed, J. (2013). Challenges and opportunities in the use of radio broadcast for

development in Ethiopia: Secondary analysis. Online Journal of Communication

and Media Technologies, 3(2), 1-32. Retrieved from

http://www.ojcmt.net/articles/32/321.pdf

Patil, D. A. (2010). A voice for the voiceless: The role of community radio in the

development of rural poor. International Journal of Rural Studies, 17(1), 1-9.

Retrieved from www.vri-online.org.uk/ijrs/April2010/a-voice-for-the-voiceless.pdf

Sandwell, R. W. (2012). Read, listen, discuss, act: Adult education, rural citizenship and

the Canadian National Farm Radio Forum 1941-1965. Historical Studies in

Education, 170-194. Retrieved from

historicalstudiesineducation.ca/index.php/edu_hse-rhe/article/.../4335

Sylvester, G. (2014). International Year of Family Farming –Regional Dialogue for Asia

and the Pacific. Retrieved from

http://www.fao.org/asiapacific/rap/home/news/detail/en/?no_cache=1&news_uid

=207687

Siamujompa, M. (2012). Impact of radio farm forum program On agricultural

development among rural farming communities in Zambia: a Case study of

Petauke District. Humanities & Social Sciences. Retrieved from

http://dspace.unza.zm:8080/xmlui/handle/123456789/1278?show=full