New Technique Reduces Work Needed to Thin Millet

Notes to broadcasters

Save and edit this resource as a Word document.

The African Rice Centre (WARDA) recently coordinated a contest in which prizes were awarded to top local agricultural innovations from Gambia, Ghana, Guinea and Mali. On April 20, 2007, representatives from each of the countries involved in the competition took part in a one-day scriptwriting workshop at WARDA in Benin. In this workshop they learned how to share the winning agricultural innovations through radio scripts.

This script looks at an innovative solution for thinning millet crops. It is based on a technique developed by a Gambian farmer. Researcher Mr. Sulayman Jallow from the national agricultural research centre in Gambia further conducted experiments to test the technique.

As rural migration increases and the availability of workers diminishes, farmers are faced with a lack of workers for agricultural activities. They try everything in vain to get the workers they need. This script presents a technique which reduces the labour involved in thinning millet. In the text below, the host describes this alternative method, which reduces the need for agricultural workers.