Smallholder Farmers Rural Radio – FARM 98.0
THE PROBLEM
Nigeria is Africa’s most populous country with about 170 million people. Agriculture provides about 40 per cent of GDP and employs approximately 66% of the total labour force. In rural areas it accounts for around 90% of all employment. Ironically, whilst the country is an enormous producer of cassava, yam and cowpea, it is simultaneously food-deficit in terms of production and per capita requirements, meaning that it imports grains, livestock products and fish to support demand.
Nigeria’s smallholder farmer’s lacks knowledge of latest farming skills, has no access to reliable market information and uses less machineries which turns out small volume of products..
Incidentally, agricultural extension services which should support and boost farmers skills and productivity, has been ineffective because of the low funding for extension services, over the years..
Having been cut off from this crucial information system, smallholder farmers in Nigeria are unable to boost their agricultural yield and income. This has greatly exacerbated rural poverty and food insecurity.
THE SOLUTION
We deploy old and new ICT to tackle poor extension services headlong..
Our flagship, The Smallholders Farmers Rural Radio Station (FARM 98.0 FM) is Nigeria’s first and only rural radio solely dedicated to agriculture. It was established in 2007 with support from UNESCO International Programme for the Development of Communication (IPDC). Through the radio, we design, produce and broadcast daily agricultural, environmental management and market information in the local Igbo Language, reaching small farmer listeners living in Imo State, Nigeria. The educational radio programs enables, smallholders acquire: latest farming skills and methods, receive daily commodity prices, advertise their farm products and learn essential business skills.
We also produce farm educational radio programs, broadcast on federal, state and private radio stations all across Nigeria. We train radio station managers, producers and presenters from these radio stations to produce agricultural radio programs that make sense to farmer listeners
We organize farmers into radio listener groups and conduct practical field demonstrations for them to imbibe best practice agricultural skills to deepen their learning.