Smallholders Farmers Rural Radio

Agriculture is the main source of livelihood of over 70 million people inhabiting the rural areas of Nigeria. But agricultural extension services has collapsed because of the unavailability of input materials needed for agricultural extension services such as 4WD vehicles , demonstration kits, farmer field schools and skills acquisition centers, qualified manpower is no longer existent. Rural dwellers have no electricity to support television, have no access to internet facilities and have no access to newspapers. As such, rural dwellers who are mostly small farmers lacks access to reliable market information, advanced farming techniques for steady supplies of the market and uses outdated techniques which turns out small volume of products. Having been cut off from a crucial information system, small farmers living in rural Nigeria are unable to boost their agricultural yields and income. This has greatly exacerbated rural poverty and food insecurity. This initiative tackles the root cause of rural poverty by utilizing Information and Communication Technology in the form of an established rural radio station to reach 250,000 small farmers living in remote and isolated communities of Imo State, Nigeria with daily broadcasts in the local Igbo language on advanced agricultural productivity techniques, sustainable environmental conservation skills and market information. This is because where 4WD cars do not reach, the airwaves reaches. Through the rural radio we inform, educate and improve the agricultural, natural resources management and market access capacity of small farmers by broadcasting information in crop cultivation, livestock rearing, soil management, erosion and flooding control, farm and household management, food safety, nutrition, HIV/AIDS and agriculture, combating malaria and farm safety. We broadcast information in use and application of fertilizers, pesticides and insecticides, rainwater harvesting, treadle pumps and small scale irrigation management. The radio gives farmers information on accessing hybrid seeds, accessing and linkages to national and international markets, exports documentation, accessing and linkages to finance and micro credit facilities for their agricultural inputs, and access to a question and answer service in which smallholder farmers shall write in to ask pertinent questions concerning their agricultural production and share experiences with one another. We broadcast information in alternatives to slash and burn agriculture, sustainable water management, enacting and enforcing laws to protect community streams, rivers and using drought-resistant plants. Others are on growing salt-tolerant and heat-tolerant crops, livestock density, restoring degraded rainforests, wetlands and mangrove ecosystem, sustainable fish harvesting technologies, planting multi-use trees, coping with extreme weather events, agro forestry, wildlife management and ecotourism. The radio builds the capacity of rural poor farmers by broadcasting information in basic business skills such as market research, cost benefit analysis, opening bank accounts and accurate accounts keeping, accurate store records keeping and business planning. We also generate feedback from listeners through solar-powered mobile devices and embark on field extension services to demonstrate practical techniques for sustainable environmental conservation for smallholders based on broadcasted radio programs.