Kathryn Burnham | July 3, 2017
It is a long drive from Morogoro to Lungo village, first over a tarmac road, then through a market town, and finally to the village centre. The trip takes at least two hours. And from there, it’s a long walk through muddy puddles and even a stream to reach the farms of Elikuna Emanuel Kuamjama and Hidya Muhidini Kipil, who grow rice, soybeans, sunflowers, and maize in Tanzania’s Morogoro Region.
Broadcasters Mohamed Issa and Mariam Maruzuku regularly make treks like this—wading through water and mud—to visit farmers in their fields.
Mr. Issa says they go to the field to capture the reality of what farmers are experiencing—in their own words. He says, “When we go to the village and want details from the farmers, I like how they explain what they do. We see practically how they are doing.”
The broadcasters schedule a whole day to visit farmers—generally Saturdays—in preparation for their weekly farmer program, Kilimo Bora (Improved farming), which airs Friday evenings on Abood FM. The show is also re-broadcast on Sunday evenings.
Mr. Issa explains, “[The visits are] important because every week we have a program. We need to know the situation [on the farms.]”
They rotate their visits between four nearby villages. Before they go to the field, they prepare questions for the farmers, based on the topic for the upcoming episode. But, if they hear about another more pressing challenge, they switch the topic of the program.
In general, Kilimo Bora follows the same structure every week. The hosts start by introducing and explaining the topic, and then air farmers’ voices collected from the field. Currently, they are talking about marketing issues in soybean, covering topics such as contract farming and soybean processing. They also aired a recording about the nutritional benefits of soy.
Then they broadcast an interview with an expert, followed by questions from listeners that have been pre-recorded through Uliza. Uliza is a web-based application for gathering and analyzing feedback and questions from audience members via mobile phones.
The broadcasters share a question on air every week, and Farm Radio’s Uliza program enables callers to answer the poll question by using their phone’s dial pad. Callers can also record comments and questions. When broadcasters log in to Uliza, they can see the survey results and hear the callers’ recordings.
Mr. Issa and Mrs. Maruzuku sometimes air callers’ questions or comments, and sometimes use them to create their own questions for the expert.
The hosts also invite listeners to call in to the program live; if the expert is in the studio, he or she can respond to the listener.
By including listeners’ voices throughout the process of developing the program, the broadcasters ensure that their program is relevant to listeners. They know just what farmers are doing that week, and what challenges they are facing. And they endeavour to address farmers’ concerns on air, airing the farmers’ own words.