Backgrounders
Backgrounders are brief introductions to important and technical topics and Answers to frequently asked questions share key information on a topic.
Use this information to plan an episode or series of episodes on the topic, to prepare for an interview, or to answer questions from callers.
- All
- Agriculture
- Aquaculture
- Children and youth
- Climate change
- Community development
- Crop production
- Energy
- Environment and climate change
- Gender equality
- Health
- Hygiene and sanitation
- Land issues
- Livestock and beekeeping
- Marketing and market information
- Nature-based Solutions
- Nutrition
- Post-harvest activities
- Social issues
- Soil health
- Trees and agroforestry
- Water management
Issue Pack: Cassava value chain in Tanzania – production
1. Introduction and how to use this issue pack This issue pack is designed to provide broadcasters with the information needed to help create effective and entertaining radio programs on cassava. The issue pack focuses on cassava in Tanzania, but much of the information will be relevant to other sub-Saharan African countries where cassava is…
An Introduction to Value Chains
Introduction: A value chain is not an object that you can see. Rather, a value chain is simply a useful way of understanding how the world of producing, buying and selling things works. We are all part of value chains in one way or the other as producers, consumers of goods and services, processors, retailers,…
Farming Hints
Farming Hints By Shamela Rambadan, Trinidad and Tobago I encourage sprout formation in ginger rhizomes before the first rains come. This gives me a head start and ensures that my plants have enough water to grow and develop large rhizomes. The method is effective and costs nothing. All you need is some old newspaper, or…
Fact Sheet on Bamboo
Description of bamboo plants: Bamboos are woody grasses that grow up to 40 meters tall. Bamboos can be classified by the types of roots they have. Some, called runners, spread widely, and others, called clumpers, have roots that slowly expand from the original planting. Bamboo culms (stems) are normally round, jointed, sometimes thorny, and can…
Storysheet – Livestock Health
Introduction – three true stories about livestock health Emuria Ekai worked at a butcher shop in a town in northern Kenya, and earned enough money to buy two weak goats for his family. He tied the goats to a pole in a shaded area near his work, and fed his goats with cabbage leaves, potato peels,…
How farmers can adapt to a changing climate
How global warming affects the weather It seems that everybody has now heard about “global warming” or “climate change.” The weather is changing and the earth is getting warmer because human actions – such as burning coal, oil and gas for energy – are increasing the levels of “greenhouse gases” in the earth’s atmosphere. These…
Story ideas on crop storage and climate change
1st story : Plants which protect stored crops Story: Two women (or men) are worried that, because pests have damaged their stored grains in the past, they will not be able to feed their families during the coming hungry season. They cannot afford storage chemicals. They talk to an elder who advises them to…
Issue Pack: Water harvesting
True stories about water harvesting Farmer Abadi Redehey lives in the Central Zone of Tigray Region, a semi-arid highland area in northern Ethiopia. Here, the wet season lasts from July to September or October and is followed by a long dry season. Even in the wet season, rains can be irregular. The farmer has…
Issue Pack: Soil fertility and climate change
Farmer success stories on soil fertility Samison Banda, from Mchinji, Malawi, manages his farm with his sister and two nephews. Because his fields lie on a hillside, his ridges and crops were often washed away by heavy rains in the past. “I used to plant three to four times every year because ridges were…
Issue Pack: Awareness of climate change
Stories Augustine Yelfaanibe is a 36-year-old farmer in Nandom, a small town in the Upper West Region of Ghana. He remembers that when he was young, signs of rainy weather were obvious by mid-March. Most farmers prepared their land soon after the New Year. This ensured an early harvest, with enough food to survive the…