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
Raise your Own Fish Fingerlings
Keeping fish in your rice fields reduces weeds and insects. Fish manure fertilizes rice and increases rice yield. Fish is also a nutritious and tasty food for you and your family. If you want to raise fish with your rice you need a supply of young fish. Today we will talk about how you can…
Intercropping with Paulownia Trees
Intercropping with Paulownia Trees By growing trees with crops you can increase crop yields and harvest lumber, firewood, and livestock feed at the same time. In different parts of the world farmers are experimenting with different combinations of crops and trees. This is called intercropping. What is intercropping? Intercropping is growing different crops together in…
Use Chili Peppers to Control Pests
Content : Chili peppers (Capsicum spp.) can be used to make a spray or dust to control pests. All over the world farmers and gardeners use chili peppers instead of commercial pesticides. Make a spray for field and garden crops You can make an effective pest control spray from chili peppers, water and soap. Chop…
Groundnut (Peanut) Hay is Good Feed in the Dry Season
If you feed your animals well in the dry season they are ready for the hard work of cultivating the fields when the rains come. And good feeding all year round helps your cows produce more milk. It also helps them produce young ones more often. It’s the same with other animals too. Animal feed…
Fewer Children Mean Healthier Children
We recently told you about farmers named John and Sam who grew carrots. John planted his carrots well apart but Sam crowded his together. He thought that the more seeds he sowed the more carrots he’d get. But Sam was wrong. Although his fields had more seedlings at the beginning of the season, by harvest…
Why Children are a lot Like Carrots
Two farmers, John and Sam owned land side by side. They always tried to outdo each other. One year they each planted carrots. John took care to sow his seeds far apart. Sam filled his plot with seeds. “My father always planted like this, and we never starved. This way I will have many more…
Protect Tomatoes from Frost
Save and edit this resource as a Word document. You can grow tomatoes even in cold weather. A farmer in Zimbabwe, Mr. Francis Handwa, uses cooking oil or milk bottles filled with water to keep tomato plants warm. This is a good alternative to covering tomatoes if used bottles are easy to get. Here is…
Hints
Banana trunks: a treasure for your garden in the dry season Zingui Messomo Xavier Communications Officer INADES Formation Cameroon Some farmers in Cameroon found a use for banana trunks after harvest. They put cut up banana trunks between the rows of vegetable crops such as tomatoes, lettuce, and cabbage. As they decompose, the banana trunks…
Grow and Eat Nutritious Yams
In the Pacific, the yam is a popular and important food crop. In some places yams are eaten every day, particularly when they are in season. In other places yams are eaten only on special occasions. No matter how and when they are used, yams are recognised for their delicious flavour and cultural values. They…
Improve Straw for Livestock Feed
Do you burn your straw because you think it is useless? By treating straw with ashes you can make ash straw which is a good livestock feed. Livestock that eat ash straw will gain more weight and be healthier. By itself, straw is a poor feed for animals because it is hard to digest and…