Hello everyone!

    | October 4, 2010

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    The Farm Radio Weekly community continues to grow. We would like to welcome this week’s new subscribers: Rosemond Boafoa from Esoko Limited and Victor Kosi Nogbe from Need Tree for Life in Ghana; Robert Byamungu from Bureau Diocésain de Développement (BDD/Bukavu) in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Clement Masai from PureCircle Ltd in Kenya; Kelefa Mwantimwa from the University of Dar es Salaam in Tanzania; Joseph Mulindwa from Kyakabiibi Farmers Ltd in Uganda and finally, Adama Tessouke from Radio Sikidolo in Mali.

    In addition, we extend a special welcome to 38 new subscribers from Malawi. They signed up while attending the Second Annual Farm Radio Symposium in Lilongwe in September. The symposium’s theme was “Farm Radio Programming: A catalyst for addressing emerging issues in agricultural development in Malawi.” We will bring you a summary of discussions in the coming weeks.

    Our first news story this week comes from Kenya. Small-scale farmers who bought crop insurance have received their first payouts. Local weather stations recorded rainfall and, together with the insurance company, used this data to estimate crop losses. You can read farmers’ reactions to the size of their compensation.

    Moving to Malawi, we hear how the practice of using metal storage silos has arrived in East Africa from Central America. Local artisans are now producing silos. Efforts are underway to make them more affordable for farmers.

    Recently, a major report was released that looks at progress on increasing access to HIV and AIDS’ services. Our third news story updates progress made in sub-Saharan Africa.

    We celebrate the launch of the Liberia Women Democracy Radio. This is a new radio station dedicated to making women’s voices and issues heard in Liberia.  President Sirleaf visited the station to officially launch operations.  We wish the station success in their endeavours.

    In our Action section this week, we hear from the five country coordinators of the African Farm Radio Research Initiative. They have been with us in Ottawa for the last few weeks discussing their work. Farm Radio Weekly took the chance to ask them some burning questions about rural radio in Africa. You can read their thoughts below.

    Happy reading!

    -The Farm Radio Weekly team