Week 4 Lecture Notes CSE 590F

1. RURAL RADIO IN AGRICULTURAL EXTENSION: THE EXAMPLE OFVERNACULAR RADIO PROGRAMMES ON SOIL AND WATERCONSERVATION IN N. GHANARobert Chapman, Roger Blench, Gordana Kranjac-Berisavljevic’and A.B.T. Zakariah Week 4 Lecture Notes CSE 590F

2. Contents • Background • Case Study • Conclusions

3. 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

4. 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

5. Community Audio Tower System (CATS) • ‘narrowcasting’ technology - karaoke equipment and an amplifier with microphones in a studio linked to a metallic tower with all-weather loudspeakers. • Works well in dense rural areas • Receivers not needed • Cost is about $2000 • Case studies demonstrate effectiveness

6. 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?

7. 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

8. Discussion • Is radio a good choice for addressing these two challenges of agricultural extension?

9. 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 • Local language • Hearing voice of friends and neighbors • Dramas, music, other entertaining formats • Must appeal to men and women

10. 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?

11. 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

12. 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

13. Discussion • Was this a well-conducted study? • How could it have been improved?

14. 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

15. Discussion • Any other conclusions?