- Barza Wire - https://wire.farmradio.fm -

New rice variety for Africa to save wetlands in Uganda

This week’s featured script was written by FRW subscriber and correspondent Joshua Kyalimpa of Opsett Media’s African Farm Radio Bureau in Uganda. Mr. Kyalimpa was one of 15 winners of the Farm Radio International-CTA scriptwriting competition “African Farmers’ Strategies for Coping with Climate Change.” His script introduces listeners to average Ugandans who love to eat rice, and a researcher who explains how a new upland rice variety is ensuring future rice supply while saving the wetlands, thereby reducing the environmental impact of Ugandan rice production.

Mr. Kyalimpa was one of three FRW subscribers who were winners of the script writing competition. The others were Mariama Sy Coulibaly from Radio Convergence Panafricaine in Senegal, who wrote “Fissel farmers don’t pick up straw after harvesting, a method that protects land from heat” [1], and Kwabena Agyei from Classic FM in Ghana, who wrote “Mangoes to the rescue: A local response to climate change” [2].

In Issue 34 of FRW, Mr. Kyalimpa’s script was erroneously identified as “Growing NERICA is a farming solution for coping with climate change.” In fact, “Growing NERICA is a farming solution for coping with climate change” is an award-winning script written by Savitri Mohapatra, Communications Officer for the Africa Rice Center (WARDA). Ms. Mohapatra’s script can be found online here: http://www.farmradio.org/english/radio-scripts/84-2script_en.asp [3]. All 15 winning scripts from the scriptwriting competition on climate change are now on the Farm Radio International website: http://www.farmradio.org/english/radio-scripts/ [4].