A total of 395,438 farmers from Sissala East in the Upper West regions, Bolgatanga in the Upper East Region, and Savelugu/Nanton Municipality in the northern region have benefited from Farm Radio International year long program, Canadian base nongovernmental organization.
The program selected Zaa Radio and three other stations in Northern, Upper East and Upper West regions and disseminated best farming practices information to 67,134 farmers in the Sissala East, 107,536 in Bolga and 220,768 farmers in the Savelugu/Nanton municipality between June 2013 and March this year.
Zaa Radio was selected out 9 radio stations in the regional capital Tamale in a survey conducted by FRI on preferred radio by district in northern region with 51 percent as preferred radio station.
Radio access at home by district and gender also shows that active listeners of men are more than women in the Savelugu/Nanton municipality.
The program started with Effective Farm Radio Advisory Services” (EFRAS) which aims to help radio stations established an effective regular farmer program.
EFRAS campaigns included formative research, training, design and start-up resources to achieve its objective. The second phase was Participatory Radio Campaign (PRC), a planned radio series, broadcast to a specific farming population, over a specific period of time, which helps farmers mobilize to adopt a specific farming practice.
In all 400,000 rural farmers were targeted with 47% women 53% men. Bolgatanga was the highest among districts covers by the program with 70%, follow by Sissala East 65% and Savelugu 64%.
Presenting an overview of the program at a day learning forum in Tamale, Agric Monitoring and Evaluation Officer at Farm Radio International in-charge of CHANGE Project, Elizabeth Nadurille expressed her satisfaction for the results from the communities during the period and thanked all stakholders particularly farmers.
After a year of stay in the northern region, Elizabeth says farmers still need a lot of information with regard to best farming practices. The Programs Manager of Farm Radio International (FRI) in Ghana, Ben Fiafor assured farmers that his outfit will continue to support farmers to improve best farming practices.
He said even though the second phase of the program has come to an end, FRI will continue support to farmers and partners stations to help rural farmers improved their yields.
Some partners of the program who play key role in the implementation process calls for more of such interventions in the agriculture sector in the northern region.
Categories:
